The Soul Brother: Adventures of Marx
by dmandog056
Summary: An average ex-military family kid gets sucked into the world of soul eater. The world is a scary place, but the soul of a true hero fights for the good of those around him. "Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful)"-USMC Motto [follow and slightly deviate from anime story-line.] AU [cameos of multiple franchises].
1. Prologue

The Soul Brother (soul eater fan-fic)

Alright this is my first official fan fiction story so let's get this stuff out of the way first I don't own any of the properties that will be used in this story except for the OCs I have created/will create. All properties belong to their respective owners. I'm just starting out as a writer so please cut me some slack in that department. **Oh and check out the rest of the story please and thanks.**

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(Play the Song: Main Menu Theme from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2)

Chapter 1

THE FUTURE

"Medusa, you tortured my adopted brother, attacked my friends' numerous times, released a nightmare of horrifying proportions and think 'you' can get away with it?!" Yelled a furious voice.

"Oh pretty much, yes." Replied medusa in a calm sadistic tone.

"I will make you long for something as sweet as pain medusa." the voice's tone was calm and filled with venom.

"If you're so eager to die, then why not reveal yourself, Marx?"

"Because, I want to enjoy **punishing** you for what you've done to me and my new family."

The voice begins to echo around the dark cavern like room that is Medusa's lair.

"Sic vis pacem, para bellum." The echo repeated growing louder until moments later it stopped, silence was the only sound in the room.

"ah, Latin, if you want peace prepare for war." Medusa replied dryly.

There was no response.

'very well then, I'll play your game, Marx' medusa thought with a sadistic grin forming on her face

X

-Flashback with commentary-

"Hi, the name's Marx. I know we have a lot of ground to cover so let's start from the beginning." Somewhere in the suburbs of Los Angeles county lived a family of 5.

There were two brothers, a sister, a mom and a dad, the brothers were rough-housers plain and simple, the sister was the know it all oldest, the mom was crazy and the dad was an old school badass.

The brothers, were 16 and 20, the sister was in her late 20's the mom was in her late 50's and the dad was in his early 60's.

"Family's the most important thing in the world, nothing more, nothing less. That doesn't mean friends are out of the equation, it depends on how good the friend is, if so they may as well be family too." Said the narrator.

The house was small and needed a fix up, but it got the job done. The youngest had a head filled with dreams, the most prominent being following in his father's footsteps, one way or another. "But be careful what you wish for young man or your wish will come true."

The father had been a commando for the USMC and his father before him served in the US ARMY during the second world war fighting in Europe. The youngest son hoped to be a commando too but, fate had other plans instead the boy was deprived of his dream to serve his country due to being declared unfit by a psychiatrist.

It broke his heart to hear that after doing all that research and all that planning. And so, he tried to look for other work with that lifestyle in mind, it only ended the same way. So instead, he settled on the long-term goal of Big-Rig driver, after all his Dad and brother were mechanics, in a way it may have been the family business.

One day like any other after searching for another viable first job during the summer, only to be met with constant frustrating online redirects, he decided to go outside and get some air. The front yard was as peaceful as ever, birds singing, the sun beating down and the street pavement giving off heat.

The grass was dead, but it was solemn reminder that life was full of disappointments. Out on the porch sat a bulky, depressed Hispanic young man who wore a blue Chevy t-shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. "This is me, Diaz. But my nickname is Marx."

Diaz thought about why life had to hit 'him' in crotch constantly, among other things as he mused about this in his head, something weird began to happen out on the black top, a large blue, sparky, portal opened up. at first it seemed like a small trick of the light but then a giant black snake erupted out of it, this stunned and befuddled the boy on the porch.

As his jaw remained dropped in shock, a bug flew in his mouth and caused him to gag. He spat it, out and snapped his view to the giant hissing abomination in front of him.

The snake eyed him hungrily, he got up slowly and made his way in the house. outside, the snake slowly edged forward to the house as If it wanted to play with its' food.

Diaz dashed to his room, opened up his Camouflage back pack, and swapped his normal attire for green Camouflage military fatigues and combat jump boots.

Out of instinct he put his 70's era US combat helmet and clothes in the bag and put on his lucky green Camouflage patrol cap, Camouflage bandanna & Uvex Shades along with a nearby Urban Digital Camouflage combat vest, Red Battle gloves and Camel-back. He was ready for battle, but he forgot to call his family for reinforcements…..

-End chapter-


	2. Prologue: Part 2: Battle

I already covered that property stuff in chapter 1.

Okay, so please review guys and gals out there, constructive criticism is welcome but please remember, I'm just starting out as a writer so please cut me some slack in that department.

with all that said enjoy the story

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The Soul Brother: Prologue part 2: Battle

X

-Flashback-

The snake was outside biding its time slithering around the house looking for its intended prey.

It began to experiment with the house, slamming its body against the walls to coax Diaz out.

Meanwhile, inside the house Diaz was trying to figure out what the best tactic was for escape, since he had given the snake far too much time to surround the house.

eventually he came to the conclusion that if he was going to survive this he had to fight, more specifically run and gun.

The idea soon popped into his mind about how to best accomplish that, and so he made a run for his father's munitions cache while the house shook and groaned around him.

He had hope now, that was important because otherwise he'd simply freeze up and die from his current situation.

He found the safe for his father's stockpile and began trying all the different button combos to open it, by sheer luck he hit the right numbers, the safe beeped and opened up.

He was overjoyed at the fact that his father had listened to him and purchased more than a generous number of guns and ammo, knowing that in his current situation his father would be more than understanding about what he is doing.

Diaz began to quickly pick a load-out from what was available, he settled on a 9mm Beretta 92FS pistol, a .45 m1911, Mossberg pump-action long-tube 12-gauge combat shotgun, and A tactical 5.56mm AR-15 with laser sight, carrying handle, vertical fore-grip and flashlight.

The snake finally began to lose patience and bashed against the house with steadily increasing amounts of force. The house was losing its integrity fast, it could only withstand a few more minutes of smashing before the walls would give in.

Back at the stockpile the boy was furiously working on getting the weapons primed and ready for combat, the pressure of life and death was a good motivator despite the constant chaos around him.

After the last magazine was loaded and strapped on, he equipped and holstered his weapons except for the AR-15 which he held proudly in his hands.

It was at that moment he remembered to run back to his room grabbed his IPod, set a badass fight playlist, hooked it into the insulated waterproof area of his armor's tactical rigging stuck a headphone in his ear and charged at the front door of the house.

the snake wasn't expecting what happened next as the front door of the house was kicked down and a barrage of lead was fired at its side the rounds were penetrating the snake's scales, barely.

(play the song: Seven nation army remix By Glitch Mob)

He charged for the nearest cover being a car on the street.

The snake attempted the snatch its prey, the boy dodge-rolled out of the way with the agility of a gears of war gear.

Diaz reached his cover as the snake received a mouthful of dirt and rock.

The snake picked itself up and struck at its target as hell was rained down on it from behind the car.

A lead spray hit it in the face and it screeched loudly, reeling from the loss of its vision.

The beast began to thrash around wildly in fury, setting off car alarms all over the neighborhood.

Diaz saw this as his chance to continue his assault on the raging beast, he let out another set of bursts from his rifle making good on his hits striking what seemed to be thinnest parts of the beast's armor shooting off layer after layer of scales bit by bit.

The snake recovered and used its sense of smell to track its prey snapping at the ground where the shooter stood.

He dodged each strike like a pro, using the snakes newfound lack of sight against it.

The barrel of his rifle began to overheat, so he switched to his shotgun pumping shell after shell into the snakes hide.

That was when his luck ran out, the snake caught him off guard as he attempted to reload his weapon, striking him with the force of a moving sedan.

Now on the ground momentarily stunned he watched, as the snake reared back to finally capture its meal.

Then as if by a miracle he saw his assault rifle on the ground next to him and unloaded an entire magazine into the mouth of the monster.

As the magazine clicked empty, the snake gave one last screech of pain as it died and its corpse began to fall on top of the winner.

"Aww, Son of a bitch." Said the boy in a low tone.

It all goes black, as he sees death approaching, his eyes shut he waited for the end.

But surprisingly enough it never came, he opened his eyes to see the snake was gone.

"What the hell, where did it go? Well at least I'm still breathing that's always a plus."

As if by chance the portal reopened and began to suck in the boy, like it was specifically targeting him.

"No, no no no no, nooooooo!" He screamed as the portal sucked him and his weapons in like lint in a vacuum cleaner.

Needless to say, the ride wouldn't be pleasant as he free fell through a rift in time and space.

"Ah, hell where am I going now!" He dodged multiple obstacles and debris as he fell though the rift screaming for a short while, until he grew hoarse.

Eventually he found it kind of fun in a twisted sort of way.

"Yahooooooo!"

Then large bolts of energy struck and he cried out in agony, He could feel something changing inside him like something was rewriting his very soul and genetic code.

His arms then began to morph into various blades and gun barrels at one point he thought he saw his right arm turn into half of an M16.

Five pain-filled minutes later, the portal's other opening appeared in front of him, he was relieved that it would finally be over, but horrified by the now present thoughts of the soon to be to not so pleasant reunion with the ground.

-End Flashback-

-END CHAPTER-


	3. Welcome To Death City, Nevada

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

X

Chapter 3: Welcome to Death City, Nevada: Episode 1 (City Limits)

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"speech"/ 'thought'/ **Journal**

PRESENT DAY

"Ow, ow ow ow ow ow ow ow, owwwwww. OWWWWWW!" Diaz Screamed. "Crap, this landing freaking hurts like a bitch!"

"Why the hell does life freaking hate me damn it!" Diaz continued to rant about his bruised and battered state for around what felt like an hour.

Eventually his pain subsided or he just couldn't feel/ didn't care about it anymore.

What really mattered at this point was where in the world he was, because if it was one thing he could tell at least, he wasn't in the golden state of California anymore.

In fact, from what he could see it was night.

"Damn, that is not something you see every day, a moon with a face." Diaz pinches himself.

"No, I'm awake alright. Well that's just great I'm in the middle of nowhere, the crescent moon has a face, and I'm hungry, At least my Ipod's okay." He thought to himself out loud.

(Play Hurt by Johnny Cash)

'okay maybe I can get a fire lit there are plenty of dried out tree branches on the ground since I'm in the middle of a forest.' Diaz began scavenging the area for anything he could use to make a basic campfire for the night

1 HOUR LATER

"Okay, that should be enough kindling to light up a decent fire, now for the barrier rocks."

After collecting and placing all the Rocks, Diaz began trying to figure out how to light his fire pit.

"Blade against the rock should do it." Diaz mumbled as he scratched a rock against the knife he kept in his backpack.

"Good, at least I've got a decent fire for the night."

'Better write this down in case anyone stumbles across me or if I need reflect on what happened later.' With that thought on his mind he searched his Backpack for a journal he usually kept in there for when he had a rough day of school or needed to vent without being listened in on.

After a few minutes of searching he found a small black book, a pencil and a sharpener.

 _ **Journal entry 1: day 1 of being lost**_

 **I find myself wondering just what I'm going to do about getting home.**

 **My family must be going nuts about where I am and I know there will be hell to pay if and when I get back.**

 **Especially when dad finds the house wrecked and some of his favorite guns missing and since that giant snake disappeared I'd have no evidence to prove my innocence to dad.**

 **He's going to kill me when I get back.**

 **I'll be lucky if he doesn't ban me from fun for weeks.**

 **Well since I'm writing this all down at least I'll have some story to tell if and when I ever see my friends again.**

 **All I can do at this point is try to find out where I am, after that I'll try to hitchhike home, hopefully that goes off without a hitch.** he wrote as he giggled to himself.

He stopped writing and put away his journal for later use.

"Time to get some shut eye" Diaz grumbled to himself

X

The next morning Diaz woke at the crack of sunrise he discovered that his fire had gone out on its own and he was lucky that he had his Fatigues insulated by a decent guy who ran a survival gear shop.

"Well first light, eh. Better get started walking but first I should try some hunting for breakfast."

He tallied his current ammo stock, and found he had more than enough ammunition for his hunt, as well as self-defense.

'Okay, time to see what I can find to hunt.' He thought coolly

After approximately 20minutes he encountered a small herd of deer. The animals were none the wiser about the newest predator in their forest. Diaz didn't have that much experience as a hunter but he knew enough to avoid allowing his scent to be caught or steps to be heard.

'sorry about this big boy but a guy has got to eat.'

On that note, he took aim the nearest deer with his AR-15, steadied his aim as best he could and fired. The Rifle's pop and crack would alert all the other prey in the immediate area as well as any other predators, or people in the surrounding area.

The deer hit the ground and Diaz examined his first kill.

'The old man would be proud.'

After gutting and cooking the creatures remains Diaz pondered what his family must be doing now.

His mother was probably worried sick or furious, or both.

His dad was probably doing his best to calm himself down after hearing his wife rave and rant about their son disappearing, while cursing at himself for not being home in time to either save him or punish him.

His brother and sister were probably calling his friends and driving around the valley looking for him.

'no use wondering about the what ifs.' He thought solemnly

"All I can do is try to keep my strength up and find my way back. Otherwise, I'll drive myself insane freaking out about them. Then I won't even be able to tell anyone anything about what happened." He thought aloud with determination.

"well looks like the sun has a funny face too." he chuckled

-END CHAPTER-


	4. Welcome To DC Episode 2 New Frenemies

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy.

Enjoy the story Kiddos.

Oh, one more thing made a few changes to chapter 1. So, spoiler alert, our hero's getting a name change.

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Welcome to D.C. Episode 2 New Frenemies

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"speech"/ 'thought'/ **Journal**

That morning Soul and Maka had decided on going out into the forest near Death City to practice and sharpen their skills with the least amount of distractions. It had seemed like the most practical way to spend their Saturday. Soul wasn't exactly happy about it at first, but after a while maka brought him around to the idea.

"I still don't get why we have to waste a good Saturday morning practicing when we could be doing it after school instead." Argued soul indignantly.

"Because soul after we made all that progress, and we were so close to turning you into a death scythe. And we Screwed up big time." Maka replied with a hint of anger.

"Still don't get it…" Soul continued to argue.

"Just stop complaining soul. After we're done here we can go out to eat, "if" I think we've earned it. Or I could find other ways to make you train." Said Maka attempting to bribe her partner into working out.

"Alright fine, that's cool." Answered soul, feeling defeated.

Queue Epic training montage. First, Maka and soul practiced their swings and timing. Then after that they switched to tactics practice, trying to up their tactics and strategy in battle. With a few mistakes here and there, the two of them had covered the basics of combat as best as they could by themselves. Before they knew it, an hour had passed and Maka seemed satisfied with the amount of progress the two of them had made. Then they heard the crack of a rifle being shot.

"That was a gun shot, but no one we know is supposed to be out here today?!" Maka yelled confused.

"could be, that someone is out here poaching." Soul replied coolly.

"Then let's catch a poacher." Maka declared determined to beat senseless whoever was illegally poaching within death city's forest.

"Maka wait, I don't think that's such a good idea…" soul interjected.

"what do you mean, we have a chance to catch a criminal and all we're doing is sitting around." Maka said.

"Yeah but think, we'll be facing a guy with real guns. I don't our teachers covered that in class." Soul argued with a calm tone.

"That's true soul, but we have the element of surprise." Maka eagerly countered.

"That's also true." Soul shrugged "Fine I'll do it." on that note soul transformed back into a scythe.

WITH DIAZ

"Well as the old saying goes, that's good eating'." Diaz Thought aloud to himself. 'The critter is now part of the circle of life I suppose.'

"Moving on, it's time I got stepping." Diaz pulled himself up getting ready to explore and find the nearest town or city so he could try to find his way home. 'Better do one last equipment check on all of my weapons.' He thought to himself tactically.

MEANWHILE

"Soul, there he is." Maka whispered to her partner. "I can see that Maka." Soul replied. "It looks like he's checking his weapons, if we're careful we can get the drop on him." Maka observed. "He looks like military but I don't see any patches or symbols." Soul said with interest. "Then that means he'll put up a decent fight." "Alright time to catch this guy red handed." Maka whispered determined to catch the alleged poacher.

Diaz hummed Back in Black (by AC/DC) to himself pleasantly ignorant of the Scythe wielder, sneaking up behind him.

'Almost there.' Maka thought proudly to herself. Just a little further and she'd have this guy begging for mercy. Maka carefully avoided all the rocks and twigs on the ground, making every step like it was her best.

Diaz began to feel like something wasn't right but he couldn't figure out what. Was it his guns? No, was it his glasses? No, but what was it he was missing? Then before he could try figuring out his personal mystery, a scythe blade appeared in front of his face.

"Don't move you, dumbass poacher. No one hunts illegally while I'm around." Maka said with determination to the hunter.

"Now that I have a blade to my throat, I think you can trust that you just cancelled all my moving plans." Diaz replied with Sarcasm extremely evident in his tone.

"Now drop the gun, take off the hat, glasses and bandanna. Then, turn around and let me see your face, keep your hands where I can see them." Maka instructed to the hunter.

"I'll make you regret this. You know, that right?" Diaz mouthed off to his female aggressor.

"Shut up smartass." Maka replied with frustration.

"Okay, fine. You win. No need to be such a bitch." Diaz grumbled that last part under his breath.

"what was that?!" She snapped

"nothing, I said I feel like shit." He said sweat dropping.

"That's what I thought you said." Maka replied with triumph heavy in her in her tone.

After carefully removing his head gear and setting down his firearm, the hunter slowly turned around to reveal himself. Maka watched him carefully, not letting her guard down for a second. When the hunter finally finished turning around, he looked into the eyes of his 'cute' new captor.

"Whoa wasn't expecting you to be so…" The hunter started reply but was cut off.

"So, what you! … handsome… uh." Maka stuttered, blushing heavily as she saw a robust, handsome young Hispanic boy with a friendly appearance, and strong facial features.

(picture an animated version of a teenage Robert Downey jr., without a goatee, circle nose, brown sclera in his eyes and tan skin.)

"If you'll let me finish, you are really cute." He said with both a blush on his face and seriousness in his tone,

"Hey jackass this an arrest not a date." Soul shouted angrily in his scythe form.

"Did that that scythe just rant at me about the current situation?" The handsome hunter sweat dropped.

"you're right soul, this is an arrest." Maka said as she shook her head and refocused on the task at hand.

"Aw, come on can you cut me some slack? I've been lost out here for a while now." Said the hunter hoping to play on either their empathy or sympathy and maybe use the excuse of extenuating circumstances.

"Doesn't matter jerk, you broke the law and tried to flirt with my friend." Yelled soul shooting down the hunters attempt at suave persuasion.

"Uh, is the scythe still talking to me, or am I going nuts?" Said the hunter, his face grimacing from the thought of being insane.

"Hey, at least I'm not some macho scumbag." Soul mouthed off.

"Look who's talking farm tool." The annoyed hunter shot back with a vein popping out on his forehead.

"What did you say?!" soul Yelled indignantly.

"You heard me. Want to make something of it blade boy?" Said the hunter in a calm tone with serious expression on his face.

"Try it Gun Nut! I dare you, I double dare you!" Shouted soul angrily.

"I prefer to be called a firearms enthusiast!" yelled The Hunter indignantly.

"Shut up! Both of you!" Screamed Maka with fury evident on her face.

"Yes ma'am!" Soul and the hunter said simultaneously with fear in their voices.

"like it or not you're coming with us, understand!" Said Maka, glaring at The Hunter.

"Yes, ma'am." The Hunter sighed in defeat.

-End Chapter-


	5. New Problems, Hidden Past

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'/ **Journal**

X

Welcome to death city Episode 3: New problems, hidden past

X

"So, what brought you two out here anyway, besides my gun shot?" asked the hunter trying to pass the time.

"Why should we tell you anything?" Replied Maka.

"Because it's looks to me like we're going to be walking for a while." The Hunter answered.

"Still, not a legit reason buddy." Soul in his scythe form replied.

"Well do you mind if I at least hum to myself?" asked the hunter innocently. "By the way I'm not your buddy guy."

"What do you think?!" snapped Maka.

"Jeez Louise, all I'm trying to do is ease the damn tension here is that so wrong?" the answered with frustration in his tone.

"Fine, you can hum." Finished Maka.

"Thanks." the hunter replied with smile. The Hunter hummed the tune of the ac-130 marine corps cadence for a few minutes. The two partners behind him wondered what he was humming. After 10 minutes' soul cooled off and decided to ask about it.

"Hey what are you humming, I've never heard that tune before?" soul asked the hunter.

"I'll give you a hint. Ever heard of the eagle, anchor, and globe?" The Hunter replied cryptically.

"The Marine Corps?" Soul guessed.

"Yep, it's a cadence." The hunter explained.

"So, then why are you out here?" soul asked him.

"In the words of my dad, that's classified. If you need to know I'll tell you. But, right now you don't need to know." The Hunter answered coolly.

"so that's how it's going to be." Soul continued.

"Hey I didn't say no, I said not right now. But such is life, it rarely gives answers, but it's more than happy to provide questions." The hunter replied.

"Okay, that seems like the most I'll get, eh." said Soul satisfied.

"Yep, for now nothing more, nothing less." The hunter replied in a cryptic tone. While soul and the hunter talked Maka used her soul perception on The Hunter.

'From what I can tell, his soul is mostly calm, with some pain here and there. But if I try to look closer, I can tell there's worry. With a slight bit of sadness.' Maka observed appearing as if deep in thought.

'He seems to be an honest soul, but it looks like he's hiding some dark thoughts. What's more is that I can see some anxiousness about where we're going. His soul is baby blue and looks like it's wearing goggles with a sharp, toothy half-smile' Maka silently chuckled at that last bit.

30 MINUTES LATER At the city's edge.

"So here we are, Death City." Maka said relieved.

"Now that we're here maybe I can explain myself, properly." The Hunter replied feeling hopeful about the situation. "Also, this place looks we've wandered into Europe."

"For Your Information, we're in Nevada." Maka replied in a factual tone.

"Oh, is that so." The hunter replied sarcastically.

"Yes, wise guy it is." Said Maka, annoyed at the hunter's sarcasm. "Now let's get you to the authorities…"

"No way, no how." The hunter interrupted her. "Jail is not on my to do list. Thanks for getting me to civilization but, there is no way I'm getting in trouble for trying to survive out there."

"This wasn't our idea of how to spend a Saturday either, so either come quietly or get a beat down first." Soul replied with anger in his tone.

"Right, I forgot you still have my weapons." The hunter replied deflated. "so, then keep 'em safe for me."

(play the Song: Green Forest from sonic adventure 2)

"What?" the duo replied as the hunter made a break for freedom. In response, soul and Maka chased after him. The Hunter was unfamiliar with his surroundings and he had only one thing on his mind either run or face doom. He chose to run, lucky for him the environment was ripe with alleys and shortcuts. Soul and Maka pursued him relentlessly through streets and alleys as the chase continued to heat up.

"Catch me if you can!" the hunter Shouted.

Maka and soul were hot on his trail, keeping up with every step of the way. The city was providing all the things the hunter needed to escape his pursuers, from garbage cans to parked cars along with plenty of opportunities for free running. As they sped through the streets people began to take notice of the man in green outrunning the Meister.

'C'mon, there has to be somewhere to lose these two around here.' The Hunter thought frantically. 'There has to some tactical options available.'

"You can't run forever!" Maka shouted.

"Watch me!" The Hunter retorted. 'Just got keep sprinting, I've just got to keep sprinting!'

"Maka, this has to end now!" soul added.

"But how do we catch him?!" Maka Replied while gasping for breath.

"You're the smart one, Figure it out." Soul continued with frustration. "After all, who knows this city better than we do?

With that idea in mind Maka came up with a plan on the fly. If they can't catch him from the ground, they can catch him from the rooftops. After making her plan Maka used a nearby van to climb up to the rooftops and fool the criminal into thinking he's home free.

"Yes, I'm in the clear, take that girlie and psycho scythe." The Hunter said aloud to himself. "Freedom has never been sweeter."

Just then Maka And Soul dropped down in front of him from above. The Hunter skidded to a stop and tripped on a rock that had fallen into the street. "uh, oh."

The Hunter now experienced what a tumbleweed felt like on a windy day, it hurts. His trip ended with him smashing into the side of and leaving an imprint in a brick wall.

Battered and bruised from his trip, fall, and crash the hunter had only one alternative… beg for mercy. Maka closed in on the defeated hunter with her friend the scythe. Before falling unconscious The Hunter could have sworn he saw the scythe transform into a Teenager with white spiky hair, red eyes, a yellow jacket and red pants.

"Have mercy." mumbled The Hunter as he fell unconscious. While unconscious he could hear, what was going on around him.

For a short time, he heard the sounds of a hospital, then nothing but quiet. He felt like he was floating in a void not doing anything but waiting to wake up.

At that point, he started to see a slide show in front of him. What he saw was an army soldier in a world war 2 basic training uniform who seemed vaguely familiar.

The same went for a marine in boot camp, who was even more familiar but he couldn't quite place the man's face. The he heard familiar sounds, military running cadences, here we go… motivated (Army Ranger) and Going to be another easy day (USMC).

Why were they so familiar, yet so hard to see? It clicked, his father and grandfather, what he was seeing was memories, their memories of basic training. He watched intently, learning and retaining the skills of both generations of War-fighters.

A FEW HOURS LATER

The Hunter A.K.A. Diaz, was just starting to wake up from a long night of rest. When he woke up he felt too much pain to move, he used eyes and saw that he was in a hospital bed in a small infirmary.

He wondered just how many more times he was going to end up feeling like he was hit by truck. That was a question for another day though, as he started to really wake himself up, he discovered that he was handcuffed to his bed, with both arms chained down.

"So, you're finally awake." said a voice with an inquisitive tone.

Diaz didn't respond

"You were a lot more talkative with the two students who caught you." the voice continued to list with a condescending tone. "Your weapons and body armor have been confiscated as well."

No response, only a blank stare at the ceiling, with occasional blinking.

"The aforementioned students also stated that you were lost and illegally poaching to survive." The voice's tone didn't change. "We've also gone through your personal items which include, one small journal, pencil, sharpener, Vintage double layer combat helmet, a blue t-shirt, jeans and black sneakers." The voice seemed to be attempt to an interrogation. "Your weapons will be destroyed and you'll be punished to the full extent allowed for minors… unless you decide to answer a few questions."

"I know I don't really have to answer you, but I don't want to cause any more trouble than I already have. I want to make up for my mistakes." Diaz responded with heavy amounts guilt.

"Finally, you want to talk." The voice seemed elated to have an answer. "If you want to make up for what you've done then, tell me what you were doing out in the forest."

"Let's come back to that one later." Diaz suggested, not wanting to remember the past few days.

"That's fine but you still have to answer that one eventually." The interrogator agreed. "Now who are you? Because we can't seem to find your thumbprint, face or any other records of your Identity."

"Count that one as related to why I was in the woods." Diaz replied cryptically. "If I'm right and I hope I'm wrong, then I may not be able to get home because I have no home to go back to."

"That doesn't count as an answer." The interrogator was getting frustrated. "If anything, that raises even more questions about you."

"I said something similar to the scythe." Diaz replied flatly.

"He mentioned that." The interrogator retorted.

"He? Well, guess I'm not crazy then." Diaz explained how he felt about what he saw. "I knew I saw the scythe change into a guy. He hates me, doesn't he?"

"Maybe, but I'm the one asking questions here." The interrogator responded.

"look I don't want to tell you much, until I'm sure what happened to me, actually happened at all. But I will give you something to call me in the meantime. For all intents and purposes from here on out you can call me Hunter Marx." Marx said with confidence.

"Is that your real name?" the interrogator asked skeptically.

"It's not, but you wanted a name and I feel the need to put my past behind me." He responded with honesty.

"I want your real name." the interrogator responded dryly.

"You said I don't exist so I might as well choose who I'm going to be." He shrugged in his bed, it hurt but he needed to move. "I meant what I said when I told you I wanted to put my past behind me."

"Fine, I can see you won't budge on that so I'll move on. You ran from those two students, why?"

"Simple, I wanted freedom. Getting caught meant losing that freedom."

"Why is It that you appear to have a severe beating? I know the students didn't do that to you."

"Part of how I ended up in the woods and what transpired before that."

"Last question then we're done, sound fair?"

"Deal."

"Have you ever heard of Demon weapons?"

"No, I can't say that I have until this point. I'm guessing this is related to the way I responded when I heard the scythe talk. Right?"

"Correct. Well that's all the questions I have. My name is Sid by the way."

"Call me Marx." Marx stretched out, trying to relieve his soreness. "Oh, can I have my combat vest back at least and Sid, where am I anyway?"

"Yes and You're in the infirmary of the DWMA."

-END CHAPTER-


	6. Enter the DWMA

Enter the DWMA

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'/ **Journal**

X

IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE INTEROGATION -Sid's View

'I'd better report this to Lord Death; this kid has potential. If anything, he's a lot like soul and Black-Star.' Sid thought. 'Why is he so evasive about his past? And Why are there no records about him, anywhere? And why is he able to keep going with the shape he's in? The only one who gets a beating like that and stays on his feet is Black-Star.'

As Sid made his way through the school he continued to wonder about the new arrival, the questions only seemed to intensify his curiosity. The school was quiet that day, due to the fact that it was a Sunday. It made this all much easier for him, because he didn't have to grade papers, for now his main objective was the mystery of who this young man is and his reasons for abandoning his past.

To Sid the boy seemed like he was hiding more than what he let on, if his responses were anything to go by. The questions about him were nothing to sneeze at, no one like him just appears out of thin air, gives one of the school's best teams a drawn-out chase and nearly escapes.

Despite the fact that it was illegal, that was a decent sized deer he took down in one well-placed shot to the head. Someone had been sent to find where exactly Maka and soul found him, the evidence there was even more interesting. Besides the gutted remains, there was a basic campfire and a small crater a short distance away from it.

'This teenager was carrying military grade firearms and his survival gear also appeared to be military grade. At least I can say for certain that he behaves like he was raised in a military family.' Sid thought. 'What I don't get even more is how he acquired all of that gear in the first place, the serial numbers on the guns don't match any lost or stolen firearms or any that were recently purchased nearby.'

How all of that occurred was anyone's guess at this point, what was obvious barely made sense at all and what didn't make sense was reminiscent of a conspiracy. The evasive nature of the DWMA's new guest was going to be a difficult case for any investigators who decided to try and figure out the answers.

THE DEATH ROOM

"Lord death, I finished speaking with our new guest." Sid said. "He seems to be regretful of everything yesterday, among other things and feels responsible for what happened."

"That's good I think he may be a prime candidate for enrollment here if he can show that his skills are up to the job." Replied the bombastic grim reaper. "His marksmanship and evasive skills are quite good, from the reports I've seen of his camp site and how he nearly gave Maka And Soul the slip. Although the landing on the last bit was a little bad."

"A little, try a lot." Sid replied dryly. "He does show promise, from what I've seen and yesterday Maka explained to me what she saw when she looked at his soul."

"Oh, tell what me she told you then. The more information we have about him, the better we can assess his personality for a pairing with a partner." Death asked.

"That's all well and good but remember, you said it yourself, he has to prove he has the skills to learn here." Sid replied.

"Of course, but still information is a valuable commodity when it comes to new mysteries like him." Death continued. "So back to what maka, reported about him."

"Right, from what she saw he was mostly honest and hiding some pain and sadness." Sid explained. "He also seemed to be a good soul but was haunted by something." Sid reported. "Perhaps it's why he refuses to share his past, that would explain it to an extent. But, it's up to him to share what it is with us."

"Yes, it does take time to build trust after all. Still I have a firm belief that he may be what we're looking for. All he needs is little test before we can make any real progress on this matter. If he becomes a student we can keep him safe and eventually learn more about him from his interactions with the staff and other students." Lord Death surmised with confidence.

"That does seem to be the best course of action at this point. He had a heated argument with soul but, he warmed up to him with time. If he passes the test, he might be very strong as a Meister, and well-disciplined as a student." Sid agreed. "But that begs the question, what's going to be his test?"

"Perhaps he should meet Black-Star and Tsubaki." Death replied

"Are you sure? Tsubaki I can understand, but him meeting Black-Star is a disaster waiting to happen." Sid worried in a skeptical tone

"All the more reason to do it as soon as possible. If he can evade Maka and Soul as well as he did then then he should be able to fight on par with Black-Star." Death reaffirmed his beliefs. Besides we can minimize the damage in a controlled environment."

"I have a feeling I'm not going to like this one bit." Sid sweat dropped.

MEANWHILE WITH BLACK-STAR AND TSUBAKI

"Black-star You should be doing your homework right now, you know that right?" Tsubaki asked innocently.

"I have the feeling someone's talking about me, and something fun's about to happen pretty soon. I'll do my homework after I finish doing my push-ups and sit ups." Black-Star replied with an ecstatic tone.

'Oh Black-Star, why do you do this to your-self?' Tsubaki thought exasperated.

"Tsubaki, with me and you together I know things are always going to be awesome!" Black-Star shouted in his usual loud and proud tone.

Tsubaki smiled at Black-Star's attitude, admiring his ability to keep his head held high no matter what.

SAME TIME WITH MARX

"Well at least I have my journal for company." Marx thought aloud to himself. "Wait a minute, that's right the hand cuffs I almost forgot about those. Damn, what I wouldn't give right now for a key to these things. Why do I feel annoyed all of a sudden? It's not the cuffs, or boredom, so what is it?"

After thinking about the strange feeling of annoyance Marx eventually gave up, and decided to go back to sleep and wait until his captors decided what to do with him. While he slept, he dreamed of his good memories from home, all the times he spent with brother gaming or when his sister actually helped him out with his homework.

There was also the time his dad took him out to practice shooting at the firing range teaching Marx to shoot, steadying his aim, and learning trigger discipline. His mother had some good times with too, Christmas and Easter being some of them.

Then he remembered his Best fuzzy friend a big dumb dog who always had an ear for him to vent to when he needed it, no answers or replies but always an ear to complain to. That dog was probably lost somewhere now looking for his master.

After that ended, the slide show of family military history played again bringing him a message of duty and pride. A tradition to uphold, it also served as a warning that he now had a new war to fight.

His dreamscape turned into a training room, and he heard workout out music in the background. "Time to get started training, and memorizing the fighting styles of dad and gramps." Said Marx determined to train in his mind until he knew the moves of his past family members by heart.

This is how the next generation of his family of War-fighters would begin. He trained each punch and kick like a show of grace and brutality. Hitting the punching bags and dummies in is mind as if he were fighting single enemies and groups of opponents. He jumped and spin-kicked a dummy fluidly delivering a punishing blow to the dummy's head. With each hit, his skill and pace improved his body's muscle memory in the real world.

The way Marx trained, he would be on-par with veteran Rangers and Marines.

A FEW HOURS LATER [NIGHT-TIME]

"Time to check on the patient." Sid said to himself. Sid made his way to the infirmary after discussing with Death, in detail how and when the possible new student would face off with Black-Star. For Sid that would be a headache in and of itself, at least death scythe was busy with other things today. If death scythe had been at the meeting he would have probably tried to counter Sid on everything being said about the mystery guest of the DWMA. It didn't help the boy's case since Soul accidently told Death Scythe that the new guest had tried to flirt with Maka.

Sid's best guess at where his colleague was at this hour, was probably the Chupacabra bar, getting drunk. Death Scythe was many things, but he was especially protective of Maka, most of the time she didn't return those feelings. It wasn't Sid's place to think on that but he knew that would bring problems to the possible new student.

Death scythe knew how to subtly hold a grudge against people, Soul being one of them. 'Spirit should get over it with time, it was just harmless flirting.' Sid thought as he made his way to the infirmary. Marx's enigmatic nature made him a hot commodity, he'd be able to keep his opponents guessing about his identity, and bring new variables to the table. Sid wouldn't admit it out loud for now, but to him Marx seemed like the kind of student that would strive to be someone anyone could work with.

THE INFIRMARY

"Okay tomorrow you should be free to go, but before you leave maybe you'd like to consider an offer I have for you." Sid said.

"I'm listening." Marx replied. "By the way can you get these cuffs off of me, I'm not going anywhere. You have my word."

"Hold on the offer doesn't apply until tomorrow. But what I can do right now is release the hand-cuffs. You don't seem to be enjoying being chained down." Sid said. Sid took a small key out of his pocket and unlocked both sets of hand-cuffs.

"Thanks, it always feels good to have freedom of movement."

"Your welcome, don't make me regret that."

"like I told you earlier, I don't want to cause any more trouble than what I already have. It'd be very stupid for me to try something like after you let me go with a warning. Am I right, or what?"

"yes, it would be. But you seem to be smart so I'm sure you won't do that."

"Well, yeah. No one gets along in this world without common sense. It's what keeps people alive in the right situations."

"That's correct, you are smart. How did you get all that gear from earlier, if you don't mind me asking?"

"My family got most of it for me, the head gear I got myself."

"Was your Dad a soldier? I can tell you were going for authenticity with your fatigues."

"Dad was marine corps, Grandpa was army."

-END CHAPTER-


	7. Meet the Big Star: Black-Star VS Marx

Meet the Big Star: Black-Star VS. Marx

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos. BTW, I am having a lot of fun writing this guys and gals, but I may have to slow down a bit considering the writing process takes time. But never fear true believers, I will not quit until this story hits the end, which is not for a really long time.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'/ **Journal**

X

THE NEXT MORNING-DWMA INFIRMARY

After talking with Sid last night Marx decided to hear him out before taking his leave when the time came. He guessed at what Sid's offer was and what it would entail. His best guess for the moment was that he 'd end up going to school here, that didn't sound so bad considering he was now homeless with only the clothes on his back and almost no means of self-defense besides hand to hand combat and a large knife.

On, the one hand freedom was nice, but it came with the burden of having to fend for himself again and all he had left to fight or hunt with was a combat knife he had hidden in a secret compartment of his backpack. On the other hand, Marx would end up having a new school to continue his education, but that came with the burden of homework and essays again, a definite plus was he could apologize to the two 'frenemies' he made the other day.

All things considered education was probably the best route because, he might be provided with a place to stay and he could keep up his academic skills. Another bonus was, that he could learn more about the city and organization running the place, he also wanted why It was named Death City specifically.

Sid's offer was looking like the best chance he had at getting back home if he still wanted to eventually. Although at this point he wondered if should even consider going back, even if he somehow found a way. Home seemed like it was becoming a worse idea with every moment, he'd have to make up a story about why the house ended up the way it did and where he was for the past few days.

Those were only the minor problems, he'd also have to explain to his vindictive dad why his prized firearms were missing and wouldn't be returning any time soon, as in ever. And he'd have to explain why he left in the first place instead of staying home because there would be no evidence of anything suspicious happening besides a ruined house, missing equipment and a wrecked car or two in the street.

The short and sweet of his situation was that he had 2 choices go to school or fend for himself. School seemed to be the best option, an education, free room and board. New friends were a minor bonus when it came to his list of priorities, but friends are always good to have.

Sid walked in the room and began to make his case to Marx. The prospect of having him as student was satisfying to Sid, he might be able to keep some of the problem students in line with his well-disciplined nature and strong soul. Marx seemed to command respect from people who met him, that was a useful trait in and of itself, that respect would make finding a partner for him that much easier.

"So, what do you think? do you want to enroll here? It does come with some strings attached but I'm not the kind of man to sugarcoat things when it comes to my students." Sid explained.

"It's a deal. When do I start?" Marx asked with interest.

"You don't even want to know what the catch is? It could be uncomfortable for you." Sid replied

"I've had enough time to think about the possibilities. My dad would want me to keep learning, his motto was 'just finish high school, then worry about the future'. Besides, I only got halfway through my last school in the first place."

"Your dad sounds like a smart man." Sid answered confidently.

"He was. He really was." Marx replied. "Hey Sid where's my fatigues or my other attire?"

"When you went to sleep, I took them to get cleaned and repaired. If you're going to go to school here, you need clean clothes and I decided to make some additions to your fatigues. They should be arriving here any minute, you can wear your fatigues to class if you want. Just leave the body armor, guards and helmet in your locker."

"Thanks, that sounds awesome!" Marx replied ecstatically. "I can't wait for them now."

Just then there's knock on the door, Sid responds to it, and brings Marx his newly modified gear. Marx's face lights up like it's Christmas morning.

His old fatigues have been repaired and updated with ballistic fiber weaving, Kevlar inner lining, removable olive drab elbow guards, Velcro patches and all the damage they've sustained both recently and before they came into his possession has been repaired. His body armor had been reinforced and the pattern was changed to resemble standard military woodland camouflage matching the rest of his outfit. The old helmet he had was being stored somewhere else for safe keeping, and replaced with a modern US ARMY PASGT ballistic helmet with a woodland camouflage cover and standard tactical lining.

The newly added patches consist of multiple us flags, an army sergeant's triple chevrons and a large black circle patch with a funny little skull, the black patch read above and below it in large, white letters DWMA JROTC. His cargo pants were re-stitched and woven for comfort and survivability, and some removable olive drab combat knee guards were added as well.

His patrol cap had also been updated with a sergeant's Chevrons on the space above the brim, and on the back a label had been stitched on with black lettering DWMA. The boots had been modified for balance between comfort and combat, they breathed better than high-end running shoes, had cushioning like soft pillows, and shined better than most military dress shoes. The under t-shirt had been cleaned and re-stitched to one size fits all. And his standard red combat gloves had been re-colored solid black, remade with Kevlar weave and new guards for his fists in hand to hand combat.

"You look happy. I knew that would be a good cherry on top for you, it's also machine washable." Sid observed with pride.

"THANK YOU!" Marx shouted with glee. "When do I start? I Know I'll make a splash with this."

"First, there's some people outside you need to meet. They're going to be some of your new class mates, one of them has been very eager for today." Said Sid stoically.

"Wait why, I thought nobody else knew I was here?"

"That's where you're wrong, this is a school after all. News travels fast, it wasn't a secret that someone has been in here for a few days. You didn't exactly make your entrance with discretion in mind."

"Well then I guess it's time to show them how fast this news travels." Marx says with determination. After putting on his new fatigues, gloves, guards, helmet, bandanna and sunglasses, Marx strutted around the room getting a feel for his new uniform. The woodland pattern Military gear felt like he was wearing a brand-new silk suit (not that he had ever worn one, but how he'd imagine one felt. plus, the helmet straps make his bandanna look like he's wearing a balaclava.).

"That's the spirit, now it's time to get started with your entry exam."

"My what?"

"The reason your new classmate is so eager to meet you."

"If it's a fight they want, I'm more than happy to provide."

OUTSIDE 5 MINUTES LATER-WITH BLACK STAR AND TSUBAKI

"What's taking so long?! I want to fight this new guy, he gave Maka and Soul the best chase ever! If this guy's as good as I've heard then He'll be a great stepping stone on my way to surpassing god!" Black-Star shouted proudly.

"Black-Star don't be so impatient, it's only been five minutes." Tsubaki said trying to keep her Meister from going nuts with excitement.

"Tsubaki, you know this'll be great. I'm going to fight him using my fists, just sit back and watch." Black-Star said overflowing with confidence.

"Okay Black-Star." Tsubaki replied smiling.

The Academy's front doors flew open and out stepped the DWMA's newest student, the citizen soldier himself Hunter Marx. Marx calmly surveyed the area, the academy's doorstep was large enough to function as a decent arena for his exam. Then his hidden steely gaze met Black-Star's with sparks flying between the two immediately, the insults flew like rounds in a firefight.

"Are you the newbie? I Heard you gave my friends a half-good chase, let's see if you can give me a good fight tough guy. Or are you too chicken to take on a star as big as me?" Black-star mouthed off to his opponent.

"You want to mess with me shorty? Because I swear I just heard you say you had a death-wish." Marx responded angrily with a vein showing on his forehead.

"Oh yeah?! you're just jealous of my how strong I am wimp!" Black-Star shot back.

"Yeah I'm jealous of a guy who loves to dig his own grave. If you think you've got something to prove short-stack than bring it on!" Yelled Marx sarcastically.

"Come here and say that to my face Green machine!" countered Black-Star.

"What do you wear? Size three bring it happy feet!" Marx gave a solid burn.

"I wasn't born with enough middle fingers to let you know how I feel right now!" Black-Star flipped the bird.

"Ha! If I wanted to hurt myself, I'd climb your ego and jump to your IQ!" Marx landed a bomb.

"If you're going to be a smartass first you have to be smart. Otherwise you're just an ass!" Black-Star dropped a counter bomb.

"It's better to let someone 'think' you're an idiot rather than to open your mouth and prove it!" Marx fired again.

"Well I could agree with you but we'd both be wrong!" Black-Star flamed proudly.

TSUBAKI'S VIEW-10 YARDS AWAY

'They're evenly matched when it comes to insults at least.' Tsubaki thought with a sweat drop.

Sid appeared after taking a side door out of the academy and stood next to Tsubaki. He observed the war of wits between the two masters of sarcasm, he chuckled to himself thinking Marx would definitely fit in here at the academy.

"How long have they been arguing?" Sid asked Tsubaki.

"About 5 minutes now." Tsubaki answered truthfully.

"The way those two trade insults it's like watching war movies." Sid observed with amazement.

"Pretty much." Tsubaki added nonchalantly.

"Well It's time to end this and begin the exam." Sid finished. Having watched the two students argue with each other long enough, decided to bring the war of wits to a cease-fire, and begin Marx's entry exam.

"All right, it's time you two stopped arguing and started doing your assignment!" Sid yelled at the two arguing teens.

"Fine!" Shouted Black-Star and Marx.

After getting the area set up for a match the boys assumed fighting stances and readied themselves for an all-out brawl. They eyed each other hungrily with a fierce rivalry between them now ignited by their argument. Marx decided to be the mature one and make the competition a little friendlier.

"Hey, dude! What's your name man?! And I'm sorry for the insults by the way!" Mark called out to Black-Star.

"I'm Black-Star! The guy who's going to surpass god and kick your butt!" Black-Star shouted back. "By the way apology accepted!"

"Cool, I'm looking to have a good match and I know you are too so thanks, Black-Star!" Marx shouted while cracking his knuckles.

"Same here, now let's do this!" Yelled black star as he limbered up for battle.

(Play the Song: Here Comes the Boom by Nelly)

A small breeze blew dust between the two fighters as they stood their ground waiting for the signal to fight.

"Ready, begin!" Sid shouted confirming the start of the match.

Black-Star was the first to charge in swinging his fists at Marx. Marx blocked and countered Black-Stars rapid hits and jabs. Marx saw a short gap in black star's assault and landed a devastating counter punch to the stomach after Black-Star attempted to break Marx's block with a high kick. Black-Star retaliated with a fast, low-strike inside Marx's reach dizzying him. Marx was left reeling from the hit and shook it off in time to avoid another assault of rapid kicks and punches from Black-Star.

Marx decided to go on the offensive and break Black-Stars continuous chain of attacks. Marx faked an opening, hoping for Black-Star to take the bait. As luck would have it, Black-Star fell for the tactic and Marx responded with a grab and uppercut to the chin, stunning Black-Star long enough for an over the shoulder back toss. Marx bought himself enough time to land a hay-maker to Black-Star's face, and followed up with an old-fashioned door-kick to his chest, sending him flying a few yards and landing with a plume of dust.

Marx readied himself for Black-Star's retaliation and found it in a swift charge towards his center of mass, he attempted to react, but Black-Star beat him to it, levying a barrage of heavy strikes to Marx's torso. The body armor absorbed some of the shock, but he still felt like he was hit by a truck.

He was dazed from Black-Star's rapid hits, but he barely managed a recovery and dodged a swift face hit. Marx's tactical sense was blaring for him to end this before his luck ran out. But black-Star, despite being himself was no fool when it came to combat and left next no opening for Marx to retaliate. He knew this would be a loss if he didn't end the fight soon, but what could he do Black-Star was only using his fists and he didn't have his knife with him for a surprise attack, besides it'd be cheating anyway.

Suddenly time seemed to slow down for Marx, everything had come to a near-halt he could feel something in his right arm, like it was begging to do something new. This feeling seemed to trigger something within him. Like an old friend shook his hand and gave him a gift, then the feeling in his arm turned to happiness, as it slowly began to change before his very own eyes, into an old school M16 barrel with M203 under-mounted grenade launcher (Picture the M16 from Call Of Duty: Black Ops with the grenade launcher attachment). He took his eyes off of his new arm just long enough, to see Black-Star's reaction in slow motion as he went wide-eyed in surprise.

Black-Star, was awestruck as his opponent's arm from the elbow down changed itself just like soul's when he turns one his arms into a scythe blade. Normally, Black-Star wouldn't be surprised by this but that's when he fights soul. This was the last thing he expected from Marx, especially a gun. The moment of revelation hit him almost as hard as his opponent's punches and jabs, he should've kept his eyes on his opponent but then who wouldn't be surprised by somebody bringing a really big concealed gun to a fist fight.

"Surpriiiiise!" Shouted Marx as a storm of soul rounds erupted from his arm and brought Black-Star back to reality. The hail of gunfire brought a world of pain to Black-Star, he tried to dodge the stream of rounds, but was quickly running out of room to run. The distraction that his opponent's new power brought, left Black-Star on the losing side of the fight, out of nowhere Marx charged in and landed a knockout blow to Black-Star's face in a last-ditch effort to end the fight, with him being the victor.

TSUBAKI AND SID'S VIEW

Both the student and instructor couldn't believe what they saw with their own eyes, the newcomer had just taken down Black-Star. Sid knew Black-Star would have it coming someday but, he expected the match to end with Black-Star as the winner from having more experience. Not to say that he doubted Marx's abilities but he half-expected the match to end in a draw with both fighters learning a lesson about combat and humility. For Black-Star it would've been humility, for Marx combat, but now that no longer mattered.

Tsubaki had faith in her Meister's skills in spite of his ego, but his power alone wouldn't always be enough. To her, today was one of those days, as she saw that Black-star had just had his butt handed to him, after a fight where he went toe-to-toe with someone who rivaled him in power. Only to discover that the opponent was in fact a weapon, a gun to be exact.

The ability to change into a weapon was something you had to be born with by having a weapon in your family heritage, and Black-Star's opponent had bested him by apparently just discovering this power. This was the only reasonable explanation, otherwise he probably would've used it earlier in the fight or promised not to use it, because that might've been cheating had he known about it. still, getting beaten by a newbie was not something she had expected for Black-Star of all people.

BACK WITH MARX

"I Win, whoo!" mark shouted in glee as transformed his right arm back to normal, and did a fist pump with his left arm. After seeing that his opponent was still conscious, Marx walked over to him calmly, kneeled down and stuck out his hand in sportsmanship. Black-Star was still a little dizzy from the knockout, but he could see well enough to accept the gesture of his new rival. The two fighters rose up in shared sentiments of camaraderie, each showing the respect the other deserved.

"That, Was awesome!" Black-Star shouted happily.

"I know, right!" Marx replied satisfied with the outcome of the battle between two of the toughest guys in the DWMA.

"You almost had me there, near the end. I think we were evenly matched most of the time." Commented Marx.

"Yeah you really surprised me with your arm, my friend does that too. If I'd have known that, things would be a lot different." Black-Star replied.

"To tell the truth, I didn't know I could do that either. When you were about to beat me, something just clicked and boom there it was." Marx finished.

-END CHAPTER-

[AN: Oh, what do you think about the Call Of Duty and Gears Of War references guys?]


	8. Meet Death: Enter the EAT Class

Meet Death: Enter the EAT Class

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

ACADEMY DOORSTEP-WITH SID, TSUBAKI, BLACK-STAR AND MARX

Continuing where we left off, Marx and Black-Star have been congratulating each other on a battle well-fought. Tsubaki and Sid have seen the extent of Marx's natural abilities, as well as the emergence of his weapon form. Sid is impressed with Marx's skills and Tsubaki is still slightly surprised by Black-Star's loss to the newbie.

"Your skills are up to it alright. Ready for your first day of school?" Sid asked Marx.

"Just give me a few minutes for a breather. That fight was nuts, to say the least." Marx replied aching with pride.

"Ha, that was fun! Let's do it again sometime Marx." Black star chirped ecstatically.

"You got it Black-Star buddy!" Replied Marx grinning under his bandanna face-wrap.

"You're a weapon?! And why didn't you say so earlier?!" Tsubaki shouted incredulously

"Hey, I did not know about it before hand, I swear." Marx answered sweat dropping at Tsubaki's reaction. "If I had known about it, I wouldn't have used it. I don't cheat at honest fights, I only pull out reserve stuff like that in case of extreme emergencies."

"Technically, he didn't cheat. Black-star opted not to use Tsubaki's weapon form in the first place because he wanted to show off his own skills, that was his decision. Marx only brought out his weapon form apparently because he reached the conditions that caused it to emerge. He must be a late bloomer, that would explain it perfectly." Sid added vindicating Marx's use of his weapon form.

"I'm good with it, it actually made things more fun for me." Black-Star said with his good spirited nature present as usual.

"And that's what's called sportsmanship." Marx commented comically. "Hey Black-Star, and Tsubaki right?"

"Yes, what is it?" Tsubaki answered innocently.

"yeah, what's up Marx?" Black-star asked.

"I'd say we're friends now, right? If so, my name's Hunter Marx" Marx said hopeful for his attempt to gain some new peers.

"Yeah, duh." Black star answered.

"Yes, sure Hunter, of course." Tsubaki said happy to be friends with black-star's rival.

"Cool, first day and I've already made some good friends." Commented Marx.

"Alright that's enough, it's time you two went to class and Hunter's coming with me to see lord death." Sid stated stoically.

"Yes sir. Bye, Hunter." Tsubaki said

"See you in class Marx!" Black-Star shouted.

"Looking forward to it you two." Marx said happy to have some new friends for a new school.

With that all said and done Black-Star and Tsubaki went on their way while Marx and Sid walked to the death room to discuss Marx's terms and conditions for his enrollment, along with more classified details about his mysterious past. Sid was already aware of some the details of Marx's past, but only what was obvious or the ones that he was content with sharing.

His military heritage was one of his more outstanding traits, it seems to be one of the things he prides himself on most. Sid then decided to inform Marx of who exactly he was meeting, the Grim Reaper himself. Sid explained to Marx about lord death's pleasant demeanor and that it's okay for to be shy around him, if he felt like it. The boy only nodded silently and readied himself for his orientation.

THE DEATH ROOM

What's up?! Wat's up, waaaaat's up?! Shouted the grim reaper in his usual cheerful tone. "So, you must be our newest student! it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you lord death, it's nice to meet you too, sir." Marx replied calmly in a pleasant tone.

"How's our academy treating you? I trust your entry exam went well." Death asked cheerfully.

"Just fine lord death, sir. I beat black star by the way, he took it like a champ, sir." Marx respectfully replied.

"Great, now it's time for your orientation to the Death Weapon Meister Academy." Death added proudly.

"Yes sir, if you need any details about me I'll be sure to share them with you as they come up, but I'd like to request that some of the more sensitive information be kept secret. Need-to-know basis stuff, sir." Marx explained.

"Of course, I can understand the need for information to be confidential in your current situation." Death replied. "Before we begin, we need to know everything about how you came here and your true identity." Death replied calmly with his of needed information.

"Yes sir, where do you want me to start? My story is a long one, and it doesn't seem very interesting to most people. But then again, you aren't most people I suppose." Marx added coolly.

"Take all the time you need but, please remember, this is your first day of school." Death replied in a fatherly tone.

"Right, we'll start with my family, name, and medical history." Marx stated plainly.

The grim reaper listened intently to the young man who stood before him as he explained the condensed entirety of his most noteworthy known family history (his grandfather's and father's military service), origin, educational history and arrival in their world. Death was astounded by the recounting of the battle that the young man waged in defense of himself and his home. He then fully recounted his long and painful freefall through the rift that ended with a crash-landing, leaving small a crater in his wake.

"Well then, I believe we can make accommodations for your condition, but we'll need a cover story for who you are and where you came from." Death said pragmatically. "Your new identity has already been partly established and from what I can tell you're an orphan now, I'm afraid that we won't be able to send you back home. Rifts such as the one that brought you here, are extremely rare in nature and nearly impossible to summon even for the best specialists in our world. Even in the best conditions, it simply wouldn't be feasible for a return trip back to your world." Death spoke with a calm tone. "The creature you faced, either it was a kishin or one of the school's enemies may be messing with reality."

"I understand sir, besides my old man would want me to better myself in the best way possible. And the academy seems like the best place to do so, sir." Marx stated with an upbeat tone to his voice.

"You seem to be taking the news quite well. For what it's worth, I wish I could do more." Death replied solemnly.

"That's alright, sir. Besides there wasn't a place I really fit in, other than with fellow outcasts, and my family that was slowly and painfully tearing itself apart. Here I see a new start, I see friends, and a future. I see what I was meant for, it was destiny and that is worth striving for." Marx stated proudly.

"That's a great outlook to have. Your father would be proud." Death added with a hint of his own pride mixed in.

"Thanks sir, he even told me that himself once. When my brother's ankle was broken, I attempted to empathize with him on his condition. He snapped at me that I was different, that I wouldn't understand how he felt, he'd never be the same. I told him he didn't know what it was like to be different from the beginning, I told him 'welcome to my world'." Marx paused for a breath and sighed.

"I called my father about it, he heard my side of the story from me over the phone, my brother told his side when my father returned home. My father went into my room and explained my brother's reasoning for saying to me what he did." Marx continued with a humble tone.

"After that, my father told me that I still had the potential to do great things, and even with all the walls I hit when I sought employment, and all the persecution I suffered in life, I kept my head held high. He was proud of me for that, for my spirit."

"You'll go far with that attitude Hunter, I know you will." Death was humbled by Marx's story of his father's pride, in his son's own inner strength.

"Thank you, sir." Marx replied calmly.

"Now, it's almost time for your first class of the day! I'll have to give you the condensed version, of your orientation." Death said, with his bombastic nature back on track.

"Yes, sir." Marx replied. "Let's get started."

On that note, the 'not so Grim' Reaper explained the rules and curriculum of the academy and the reason of its founding. He even gave him a short history of the relationship between Meisters and Demon Weapons, Marx was very interested to hear how it all began. Especially, now that he was one of them. The reaper then informed him of the EAT and NOT classes, both of them taught Meisters and Weapons, but the EAT classes taught the more 'capable' students.

His new friends Black-Star and Tsubaki, were in the former of the two class types. For his display of skill against Black-Star and the fact that he had befriended him and his weapon partner, Marx would be placed in the EAT classes with some accommodations made for him.

OUTSIDE THE DEATH ROOM IN THE HALL-WITH SID

"That young man more than deserves to be in the EAT class. Not only did he defeat Black-Star in hand to hand combat, he is a powerful weapon." Sid thought aloud to himself. 'just how long are they going to take?' it was then that there was knock at the door and Sid went inside the death room.

"What did I miss, Lord Death?" Sid asked the reaper.

The grim reaper informed Sid of the more important details of Marx's history and condition.

"Mr. Marx is going to be assigned to your class Sid, and we'll be searching for a partner for him after, he becomes acclimated to the classroom environment again. You'll introduce him as a transfer student from southern California. Maka, Soul, Black-Star and Tsubaki will be informed of most of his true history after the school day is over. As his friends and class-mates they deserve to hear that." Death stated calmly. "The problems that not telling them could cause later would not be good for anyone at all, to say the least."

LATER IN THE HALL

After their talk in the death room, Sid would introduce his new 'transfer' student to the rest of his class

"Who are Soul and Maka?" Marx asked.

"They're the two who caught you the other day." Sid said stoically.

"Those two, eh. The girl might be a little miffed to see me, not sure about her partner though. He seemed like a pretty cool guy." Marx said skeptically.

"You'll fit right in here, Marx." Sid said with assuring tone.

"Thanks Sid. Well wish me luck." Marx said with a sigh as he made his way inside.

X

"Class, I'd like for you all to meet the new student: Hunter Marx." Sid paused as he gestured his hand to Marx "Mr. Marx is a transfer student from southern California who's only recently discovered his abilities as a demon weapon. I would like for all of you to show him respect and treat him fairly. Now with that said Mr. Marx please pick a seat."

"Thank you, sir." Answered Marx with a calm demeanor.

The girls cooed with wonder at the handsome appearance and quiet nature of their newest classmate, while the boys were immediately jealous, all except for Maka, Soul, Black-Star and Tsubaki. Co-incidentally Marx found a seat next to his newest friend, and rival Black-Star. Maka glared daggers at her new classmate, and soul half-smiled at his new competition. Black-Star was overjoyed to have his new best friend sitting right next to him and his partner Tsubaki, she blushed slightly when Marx looked her in the eyes and smiled warmly at her.

Class then went on as it normally would, with Marx doing his best to pay close attention to his school work. Marx's notes were being scribbled into his journal as fast as he could scribble them. He'd get a separate notebook for his notes later, Maka noticed his effort and her attitude towards him seemed to soften.

Black-Star was still ecstatic at the idea of sitting next of his two best buds, one being Marx, the other Soul. Soul seemed to warm right up to the idea of Marx being in the same class, for him it meant someone to 'help' him out when it came to school or home-work. Plus, to him, Marx had made a good first impression as a cool guy. Tsubaki's heart skipped a beat when she glanced his way and locked eyes with him again.

After classes ended for the day all of them were asked to stay after class to hear an announcement, the students all wondered what it was about, except one. Sid then asked Marx to explain the truth of who he was and how he came to be at the academy, or in Maka and Soul's case, the woods on Saturday.

All of them were captivated by the tale of Marx's origins, their new classmate had been through hell and had no way of ever seeing his home or family again. Marx assured them that it was for the best, his family was falling apart anyways and that his father would be proud of him for surviving by himself as long as he did. Maka felt sorry for how she treated Marx, after she heard the whole sad story of his life. Soul put a hand on Marx's shoulder, gave him a half-smile and a thumbs up. Black-Star gave him a shoulder bump and a bro-fist. Tsubaki smiled kindly at him and gave him a hug, Marx was blushing heavily at her display of affection to him.

LATER THAT DAY THE ACADEMY ROOFTOPS-WITH MARX AND CO.

"Thanks for hearing me out earlier everyone. I'm all alone now, my family's gone, my home is gone and everything I knew is gone." Marx stated his loss with depression heavy in his tone.

"You're not alone, you've got us now. The academy is your new home." Said Maka in a firm and reassuring tone

"We've got your back, Marx." Soul added coolly.

"Yeah, you know life is going to be awesome, when you're friends with a star as big as me." Black-Star said proudly.

"Whatever it takes, we're here for you." Tsubaki said in a sister-like tone.

"You guys are the best." Marx said warmly as they all watched the sunset together.

-END CHAPTER-


	9. Meet Death Scythe

Meet death scythe: Maka's mad dad

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos. I got a little inspiration from **'THE WOLVERINE' and 'HALO WARS 2'** for the previous chapter.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

AFTER THE EVENTS OF MARX'S FIRST DAY IN CLASS

For the rest of the week Marx continued to learn about the academy and the city surrounding it. His new home was somewhat difficult to adjust to at first, with some moments of confusion. It didn't make him angry in the slightest, he rarely ever got angry, irritated yes, angry almost never. He stayed at the academy until he would figure out where he would really live.

Marx decided it was time for his solo missions as a weapon, while it was protocol for a weapon to find a partner, Marx's soul wavelength was hard to match. except for his friends, no candidates for his partner could lift him in his full weapon form. (Imagine it's like trying to lift Thor's hammer.) Marx proved incompatible for most, as no one had really felt that kind of sorrow that he had endured or cared for him as much as his friends did.

2 WEEKS LATER

Marx's Kishin kill rate has been steadily rising over his time at the academy, the school's students had even coined the monikers for him "Sturmgewehr" and "Sola Militis". He didn't hate it, actually he felt like it fit him pretty well.

He'd been pulling continuous mission after mission on the weekends after his work was done. Marx was now just as well-known as his friends around school. Fame was proving annoying for him, he could handle it but needed some help from his friends occasionally. His collection of Kishin souls had grown to 40 over his short time at the DWMA.

His friends were growing concerned for a while until Marx decided it was time to stop and rest. He had been pushing himself lately, if he kept going like that he knew he would run the risk of going too far. Black-Star knew exactly what Marx needed, a good sparring match.

It did the trick, Marx needed a way to blow off steam and fighting one of his two best friends had been just the thing to do it. The rules this time around had been set up by Maka, with her as the referee.

Soul and Tsubaki watched with interest, the two of them really seemed to enjoy watching the academy's best fist fighters slug it out punch for punch. Marx relied on his brain more than his fists, his tactics left Black-Star at a constant disadvantage. Black-Star excelled at retaliation and surprise attacks.

Marx always tried to be ready, but Black-Star seemed to be the more experienced hand to hand fighter out of the two of them. Which meant Marx would come close but the win always went to Black-Star, it was always in good fun.

Soul had become best friends with Marx after the two of them had their own sparring match. Weapon forms were allowed, both fighters went all-out. Soul knew how to get in up close and personal, while Marx knew enough to focus his fire and attempted to keep soul out range.

Marx would hold the advantage until Soul switched to using diversionary tactics, the same concept as what Marx did with Black-Star in their first fight. Soul seemed to win most of the time, Marx was good at keeping soul back but when Soul actually managed to get past Marx's rain of fire, things went in Soul's favor pretty fast.

Marx had learned a few unconventional tactics from Black-Star and Soul, these proved to be useless though when it came to fighting them. But when it was a different opponent other than his friends, such as the challengers who constantly had something to prove, until Marx handed them their butts enough times that everyone knew, don't mess with Marx.

He was becoming a good student at school, his accommodations came with a price of remedial lessons and missions. It didn't bother him one bit, the work gave him something to focus on when he needed a goal for himself. His ability to remain calm in battle had come around in the times following the start of his adventures. It had become a great asset to him in battle and was what led to most of his fights ending quickly.

Tsubaki had come to have sisterly feelings for Marx, he was always playing rough with Black-Star Tsubaki now had two headaches when Marx was around her Meister. Whenever black star had one his rants about surpassing god Marx would throw fuel on the fire by starting short brawls between the two of them. Tsubaki would always break up the fights and take care of the two boys when they needed a voice of reason.

Maka's original contempt for Marx was completely gone, and had been replaced by sisterly feelings as well. She was the type of person who helped him out with his work as well as soul when it came to working with numbers, Marx hated math. Occasionally though, he'd still end up with a Maka Chop whenever he said something stupid, the same thing went for Soul when it came to her methods of punishment.

Marx occasionally felt like taking a run around death city or a dash across the rooftops to practice his speed and free-running skills. The practice made him decent at free-running, and it helped to get him calmed down after a long day. For him things were finally going smoothly, more or less, until the day he finally decided to bunk with Maka and Soul, he ran into Maka's father, the personal weapon of the grim reaper himself, a man they call "Death Scythe".

MONDAY AFTERNOON-WITH MARX

The rest of the gang was busy with their own lives and Marx was on another one of his explorations of the city, despite how often he went out he only stuck to the areas near the school. Today he decided to venture out a little further and see what was out there.

He had been walking for an hour in in the sun and took off his BDU jacket and hung it around his waist, revealing a white military t-shirt. The day had been the same as usual except he had no homework or assignments today so he decided it was a good day for a simple stroll, it was times like that when missed his pet dog. The animal loved to walk, and that was when he would talk, to the dog.

Just as he was trying to decide whether or not to return to the apartment, he passed a little bar by the name of Chupacabra's. he eyed the bar with interest and thought about how his dad probably might've stopped there if he were in his own world.

Then someone stumbled out of the bar drunk and approached him. The person in question was a man in a black suit with red hair and blue eyes, the man was dizzy, but still sober enough to reason with.

"Hey, are you the guy who flirted with my daughter!" The red-haired man yelled with a slur in his voice.

"Maybe, who's your daughter and why?" Marx replied warily.

"Her name is Maka Albarn!" the man shouted

"Uhhhhhhh, kind of." Marx answered.

"You little bastard!" The red-haired man cried as he charged at him. Marx had only one thing on his mind at the moment, run away, fast. As he turned he pushed off a nearby wall and got a short speed boost, taking off at his top speed.

The man chasing him was very speedy in his own right and was not afraid to show it. Marx decided to try to use the rooftops to escape and make it back to Maka and Soul's apartment before sunset.

"You aren't going to get away from me that easy!" the man shouted as he followed Marx to the rooftops.

'I've got to lose this guy.' Marx thought as he jumped from building to building using every burst of speed he could as he attempted to outrun his angry pursuer. The rooftops were giving him the needed boost he wanted but it wasn't enough to lose the man. If anything, it was enough to keep him ahead of his of his intoxicated adversary.

The apartment was a good sight for Marx's sore eyes as he took a leap toward the street and followed it up with a stylish ground pound. The lights were on inside, so he assumed Maka was home and would straighten this all out between Marx and her father.

His hopes were dashed as he heard a strange new whistling sound, that was the sound of a rock being thrown at his feet by a very angry drunk dad. The rock caused him to stumble and lose speed, that sudden loss of balance was exactly what death scythe needed to catch his prey. Death Scythe dashed at full speed, and tackled Marx to the ground.

"No, not the face, have mercy!" cried Marx as he was dragged away and had seven shades of shit kicked out of his ass by Maka's very angry drunk dad.

5 MINUTES LATER

"Okay, I'm hurt now." Marx said meekly

"Never flirt with my daughter again, you got that punk." Death scythe now sober stated coldly.

"She's like a sister to me. why would I flirt with her again, she's the partner of one of my 2 best friends!" Marx said with a slur while seeing stars.

"Good, keep it that way. Never tell Maka about this, ever. If she asks what happened…." death scythe said pausing to let Marx fill in the blank

"I took a nasty fall, hit a few dumpsters and a wall." Marx said in hurried fearful tone.

"Right, and I found you and brought you to the apartment." Death scythe added with a calm smile.

"Yes, sir." Marx finished feebly. After that, Marx walked in the door, took off his jump boots and laid down on the couch, knocking out.

1 HOUR LATER

Maka walked into the living room of the apartment and sees Marx unconscious on the couch, being cared for by Blair the cat, in human form and a nurse outfit. She furrowed her brow in thought, and wondered why she felt like she was partially responsible for why her friend was badly bruised and knocked out on the couch.

After giving up on trying to figure that out, she then proceeded to help Blair take care of Marx's unconscious form, partly because of the feeling from before and to keep Blair from accidentally suffocating him when he wakes up. The two of them then discussed what happened to them today, and why they thought Marx had ended up the way he did.

From what they discussed, it seemed that the thought of Maka's father being nearby, caused her to feel like that was related somehow to why her friend was in his current state. As fate would have it, Marx started to twitch in is sleep, like he was dreaming of something unpleasant. Maka, felt it must've been an accident from one of his free-run sessions through the city, her father must've helped him out, and chewed him out about flirting with her.

As soon as that thought passed, Marx stopped twitching, a smile crossed his face and began to sleep pleasantly. Soul walked in the front door and asked what happened, Maka believed he took a bad fall, and somehow got here which was convenient, because they decided earlier to let him stay there with them as a permanent resident. Marx simply slept peacefully, unaware of the world around him and probably enjoying his dream, whatever it was, to his friends it seemed nice.

All of them were back to business as usual when Marx woke up, with a headache and both he and Soul had nosebleeds of epic proportions when Marx saw Blair hovering over him and then she hugged soul. She was happy to meet Marx, he and Soul simply froze in fear when Maka glared at them. They knew what that look meant, and it was usually followed by one the most painful moments in their lives. To her it didn't matter how much pain he was in, Marx was about to be in a whole lot more.

"Maka... Chop!" she yelled, as she slammed a book she held by the spine, on his head.

"Owwwwww." Marx mumbled meekly before falling unconscious again and Soul was next.

-End Chapter-


	10. Sid's Undead: Fight Proffesor Stein

Sid's Undead: Maka Engages the Witch Hunter/ Fight Professor Stein

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos. This one was the most difficult one to write yet guys, guess what I'm drawing inspiration from this time.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

DURING THE WEEK OF MEET DEATH SCYTHE

After school the next day, Maka, Soul and Marx discussed how they would all fit into the apartment. The solution was simple, Marx would sleep in soul's room in his weapon form. At one point, before this he had gotten used to it, he did plan on eventually finding a place to sleep, and his weapon form was the perfect way of sleeping in a compact space.

It was also during that week that the idea had been thrown around of Marx becoming a second weapon partner for Maka or Black-Star. They were the only ones close enough to match his soul wave length, so it was only logical that one of them would partner up with him.

Maka seemed like the better choice, because Black-Star and Marx fought each other way too much for Tsubaki to handle. Marx had even been learning and practicing through intense meditation, how to make his soul even more flexible, and allow some wiggle room for his friends to be a perfect match.

That Friday, it became official Marx had become Maka's second weapon partner permanently. She and Soul had gotten him a new pair of combat goggles and a night vision headset for his helmet as a welcome to the team present.

1 WEEK LATER, MONDAY MORNING-CLASSROOM

"Did you hear, rumors are going around the school that someone's been attacking students." Soul said pausing for effect. "They say it was that teacher who died, Sid who's now a ZOMBIE!"

Maka, who was sitting next to him, jumped in her seat. On that note, she retaliated at Soul with her Maka chop.

"Soul, you have to learn to shut your mouth sometimes buddy." Marx said coolly from his seat next to them.

A few minutes later after further discussing the matter of the death and possible reanimation of Marx's favorite teacher, death scythe walked in the door acting macho. Marx grimaced at the sight of Maka's father, he was reminded of what happened last week between them.

Maka and soul sweat dropped at the man's presence and attitude, even more so when he stared right at them. Marx tried to avoid Death Scythe's gaze, but he seemed to stare right at him for a moment too and then returned to arguing with soul. Marx simply stared into space not paying attention to the man, and thinking about how far he had come in the past months since leaving home.

It was something he was proud of, despite the fact that he was stuck with remedial lessons still was not so bad to him. He thought about sharing the 40 kishin souls he had collected with his buddy Soul, but he didn't know if he should so he decided later he'd ask Maka about it and if it was even possible.

Just then Marx was snapped out of his thoughts by Maka who told him they were being called to the death room. Marx asked her why, she told him she didn't know, soul threw in his two cents and they all walked to the death room together.

THE DEATH ROOM

After they entered, Marx was the first to speak up wondering where the jolly Grim Reaper was. He noticed something else was different, like they were being watched, there was only one person he knew who claimed to be an assassin and that person was probably why he had that feeling.

Black-Star then made his presence known with his usual gusto, Marx was annoyed slightly but kept it to himself. He really didn't like unwelcome surprises, especially Black-Star's. the two teams then made their way to the mirror and Maka proceeded to call lord death by writing his phone number on the glass.

The grim reaper appeared on the mirror, greeted them, and explained why they had been called to the death room. The news was less than stellar, thanks to them all needing remedial lessons, they had to deal with the attacks on students that were occurring.

It was who the perpetrator is that struck Marx with some pain, his former favorite teacher Sid. To top it all off, the price for failure was expulsion for all of them, even for Marx because he was now one of Maka's partners, and shared the burden of remedial lessons between the three team members.

"You're going to kick us all out?!" Both teams shouted simultaneously in indignation.

Black-Star just started to laugh, and be himself, he ended up getting head-chopped from lord death. Everyone else was still stunned from the thought of immediate expulsion from the academy if they failed. Black-Star rose up, and started to brag that he would take care of it himself.

Marx snapped out of his funk, and asked lord death for a possible explanation on who might've caused Sid's rampage. He wasn't very forthcoming on the details, and simply gave the Weapons and Meisters some small amounts of intel on their targets, a name and locations.

A FEW HOURS LATER-NIGHT-HOOK CEMETERY

The 5 friends had been walking for a while, the march out of the city was long and filled with conversation. Mostly about who was really behind all these strange occurrences, and why of all things expulsion. Marx's opinion on the matter, for himself anyways, was that he didn't read the fine print, and it was his own fault for not going over the details concerning his enrollment completely beforehand.

Maka was down in the dumps and wondering why, she of all people was in risk of expulsion. Marx tried to comfort her, telling her that they wouldn't fail and they'd keep fighting until they hit the top. Maka was grateful for having Marx there to talk to, since Soul was busy hanging around with his other best friend Black-Star. Marx approached his old teacher's tombstone knelt down and paid his respects.

Soul and Black-Star had been trying to antagonize the violent zombie teacher out of hiding. Then, Marx felt the sense that something was wrong again. His instincts were ringing alarm bells like crazy in his head. "Maka, move!" He shouted but was too late, Sid had grabbed her by the ankle and hung her upside down in his grasp. The undead teacher then threw her at Marx, and made a run for his tombstone.

Marx caught Maka and he then transformed into a shiny black, classic M16/M203 with a shark face painted on both sides of the barrel, a shoulder strap and a modern adjustable stock. Maka then grabbed Marx and pointed him at Sid.

"Drop the weapon, Sid! And surrender now!" Marx shouted furiously.

"Ah Marx, one of my favorite students. Thank you, for being respectful of my grave. Since you've always been respectful of the man I was I'll kill you last." Sid said with an eerie tone. "Now, it's time I gave you all another lesson. At the end, you'll be dead. Time for the first period."

Tsubaki and Black-Star all readied themselves for a fight. Soul, ran to Maka and transformed. Maka caught him and slung Marx over her shoulder. She then twirled Soul and readied herself to fight Sid.

"Tell me Maka, do you fear death? If you let me kill you, then you won't have anything to fear anymore!" Sid shouted as he charged at Maka and slammed his tombstone down on the ground near her, in a vain attempt to kill.

"Fear is something we need, it helps to keep us alive and make us stronger!" Maka said proudly.

'She dodged my strike with such a small margin for error!" Sid thought to himself surprised by how well Maka dodged his attack.

Maka then got up and retaliated at Sid with her soul resonance ability the witch hunter, only for that to fail as she slipped on the swing causing it to back fire at Black-Star. Black-Star jumped to side wide eyed in surprise.

Soul and Maka argued between each other about whose fault it was that they had messed up their attack. If Marx could roll his eyes he definitely would have at that moment.

Sid then dove underground, and Maka jumped backwards and stood back to back with Black-Star, who seemed to have a plan as he had Tsubaki form a star with her chain around them. Sid then attempted to strike at them only to be caught when black star made his move.

"Trap Star!" he shouted as Sid was wrapped in chains and unfortunately so was Maka and her weapons.

"Why did you have to chain me to this guy, dumbass?!" She shouted at Black Star angrily, Marx and Soul agreed with her on that front. Black-Star only stood back and laughed with his hands behind his head.

THE DEATH ROOM

The gang was being watched by the grim reaper, his son Death the Kid, and Kid's weapons: the Thompson sisters: Liz and Patty. Death and his son conversed on why the teams had been sent to deal with the teacher, and how that teacher had been revived as a zombie. The four of them then discussed who it was that revived Sid, a question that death answered with another question.

"Do you remember my weapon death scythe and his first Meister?" Death inquired to his son.

"Yes, that was Maka's mother, wasn't it? What does that have to do with this?" Kid asked his father.

"She was his second Meister; his first Meister was a genius and possibly the best Meister to ever graduate the academy. Dr. Frank N. Stein." Death answered

"So, this Meister was your weapon's first partner." Kid said

"And you sent a group of students to go collect his soul?" Liz added cynically.

"He should send you big sis, you can do it." Patty chirped happily.

"Maybe if I felt like dying. You may have overestimated me a bit patty." Liz said

"These are remedial lessons right, aren't you asking a bit too much? You know what's going to happen, they'll die." kid said in a calm tone.

MYSTERIOUS LABORATORY-1 HOUR LATER

"Well this is the place. Be on guard everyone." Marx said as he stood back and surveyed the area with a keen goggled eye.

"This guy has got stitches on his house." Soul said as he looked on the ground and saw small robotic mouse scurry by.

"Interesting architecture, wonder what kind of guy this stein is" Maka observed cautiously.

Black star stood back with Marx and eyed the front of the house with suspicion, Tsubaki stood shoulder to shoulder with Black-Star. Then they all heard a strange screeching noise, like wheels on a tile floor. Then out came a man in a white lab coat who was covered in stitches with a big screw sticking out of his head. Then the wheels of man's chair hit the door stop and he toppled backwards.

"damn it, still doesn't feel quite right. Maybe that'll take care of it. I'm going to try that again." He stated coolly as he walked back in the house, and prepared to repeat his entrance.

"Shouldn't we stop him?" soul said

"But we just met him, isn't that rude?" Maka said

"I'd like to see what happens next." Black star said with curiosity

"Yeah, so would I." Tsubaki said nervously.

Marx remained silent. What happened next was a repeat of the same entrance as before, ending the same way. The 5 teens all looked at the man with their faces ruffled.

"Is there something you kids needed me for?" the strange man on the ground asked the 5 teens.

The 5 students then figured out who he is "Dr. Frank N Stein" and questioned him about why he killed and revived Sid. The man's response was, that to him 'everything is an experiment' including himself. Stein then stared at them intensely, Marx knew what was happening and narrowed his eyes with the silent expression of two can play at that game.

He was collecting data on his opponents, noticing the differences between Maka and both of her partners with one partner being caring and earnest, another being brash and reckless, the third was gruff, trusting, and sad due to an extreme loss, Maka was creeped out and attempted to cover herself. Then he moved on to Black-Star and Tsubaki, with Black-Star being himself, the center of attention, Stein was not impressed by his team's souls either.

Stein then attacked Maka and her partners, stein's attack left them feeling dazed and wary of the next attack. Marx sensing the immediate danger, transformed his arm and attempted to block stein's next attack on Maka and soul.

Marx failed, and was painfully tossed aside and knocked out by the doctor, as he caused soul to transform back to his human form he grabbed Maka and started marking on her gut with a black marker. He then mused out loud about how and where he'd make his incisions and turn her skin to sandpaper.

Black-Star then charged in and used his soul wave attack on stein stunning him and setting Maka free of stein's grip. Stein was still standing, thus surprising black-star as his attack had done nothing. Then Stein revealed that he was flexible with his soul wavelength, and had actually connected with Black-Star for a moment.

Stein retaliated at Black-Star using an attack similar to his own, seeming to fry him alive for a brief moment before Black-Star crumbled to the floor giving the appearance of death. Everyone was shocked at his apparent death.

Maka then knelt down in the feeling of hopelessness and soul then successfully attempted to get his Meister to snap out of it. the two of them with renewed faith, planned their retaliation at the doctor, Soul and Maka began to resonate their souls and use the witch hunter.

They were building up energy for their attack, the doctor then mused at the fact that they were going to use it. their attack hit stein and he caught it holding them back, with his glasses cracking. The witch hunter was shattered, and the two of them were sent flying back

(Play the song: Challengers from Dragon Ball Z Budokai Soundtrack)

Marx woke up and pulled himself to his feet, seeing his friends broken caused something different for Marx, for the first time since his arrival in this world, his calm and gruff demeanor faded and something shattered in his mind.

"Black-Star, Soul, Maka. you killed one of my best friends and hurt the others. That's it!" Marx was enraged. In his blind fury, the ground began to crack and he started to scream loudly in pure rage.

His power then rivaled stein's after a short time of powering up, stein merely observed as his opponent began to increase in strength. A red aura of power encompassed Marx, steins aura was blue, both of their soul wavelengths clashing in power, caused the environment around them to be riddled with yellow sparks and electric discharges.

Marx's power reached its limit and he charged at stein, throwing rapid punches kicks and jabs at the doctor. Stein dodged his strikes and countered them, sending the enraged Marx onto the defensive. The both of them were clashing like two forces of nature, the world around them becoming lit up with their power.

Stein was keeping his cool and retaining his smile, this served to infuriate Marx even more. Marx was relying purely on instinct like a frenzied wild animal, the doctor had spotted his opponent's weakness and began to use it against him, causing Marx to lose himself to his power and tire out. Stein saw his chance and used the loss in his opponent's pace to strike him in his stomach, causing Marx's aura to fade and for him to cough up blood.

(End Song)

Marx was almost paralyzed with pain and fell to the ground, he still had some strength left and crawled to his team. The two weapons then attempted to shield their Meister from the doctor. Stein casually walked over to the trio and patted their heads.

"You've earned a passing grade. You gave up your bodies to protect your Meister." Stein said calmly.

"What?" Both of the weapons said simultaneously.

"And I repeat what?" soul added clueless about stein's statement.

"This was all planned out by Lord Death; your extra lessons are complete." Stein explained coolly.

"If this was just a test, then why did you kill Black-Star?!" Soul shouted indignantly.

"Yeah." Marx chimed in.

The two of them looked black star's way and saw that he was still alive. They then inquired about Sid, he admitted that when he was alive he wasn't the type of man to lie. Stein admitted as well that even though it was only a test, it was fun to give them a scare. He then jokingly offered them a stay in his home, the teams refused angrily.

THE NEXT MORNING-CLASSROOM

The teams were all wiped out from last night's events. Marx was unusually silent, Soul and Maka then discussed the possibility of death scythe being the substitute teacher again. Maka wanted anyone but him, then they all heard a familiar sound, the sound of a certain man's computer chair rolling down the hall.

The 5 of them were all shocked when stein rolled into the room, sliding around the floor and coming to a stop. Maka and her partners were all wishing now that it was Death Scythe instead.

-END CHAPTER-


	11. Meet Kid: New Tricks

Meet Kid: New Tricks

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos. what did you think of the Goku moment i gave My O.C.? the 'beast mode' power up is more of a Kaioken, not Super Saiyan. a Super Saiyan-like form is on the table though.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

AFTER MEETING STEIN

The 2 teams have had Stein as a teacher for a week now, Stein was always teaching about dissection and not much else. Marx had been going to the library more often to read on subjects other than biology, Maka occasionally went with him and dragged soul with her.

Marx was happy for the company and the fact that his probationary period at the academy was over thanks to Stein's remedial lesson. So, he no longer had to perform any extra missions or lessons unless he chose to and was enjoying his free time again to train and play video games he had purchased in his spare time.

Marx had been troubled by what happened with Professor stein, but refused to admit it until all of his friends confronted him at the same time. When he saw all of them broken like that, it was like losing his family all over again.

He couldn't lose another family, they all agreed and promised him they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. After that, Marx returned to being his old self again and was happy for his new-found sense of family.

Marx also started practicing using his newly discovered strength in battle, through his sparing with Black-Star and Soul which he won mostly. Marx's new power to them, was like watching a building getting leveled by explosives.

His 'beast mode' was under complete control and he was now able to use it for an insane power boost, for both forms in a pinch. The catch was that it tires him out quickly, so he can only use it in short controlled bursts.

THE NEXT WEEK MONDAY

Maka, Tsubaki and Marx were all about to watch stein dissect a rare creature. The thee of them were whispering between each other about where their team-mates were.

Before Stein noticed they were gone, Marx asked if he could use the restroom, stein granted him that much. Actually, Marx was going to find out what his two idiot best friends were up to, if they were goofing off during school without a good reason he was going to kick their asses into next week for Maka and Tsubaki.

Stein then noticed the two of them were gone, he put two and two together and guessed that the missing duo had just become a trio. The three of them were about to be way in over their heads, stein guessed that they were going to face the academy's newest student, the son of death himself.

Maka and Tsubaki, were wondering why the three of them had left, then Maka remembered that when came to school, Marx was not the kind of person to let skipping slide for his two best friends. If he was going to leave for any reason other than to really use the bathroom it was to kick Soul and Black-Star's asses.

Tsubaki was afraid of the idea of Black-Star abandoning her, she kept picturing soul and Black-Star teaming up and leaving her behind. She took some solace in the idea that if they ever did that to her and Maka, Marx would go into his beast mode and kick their asses.

The two idiots were sitting outside waiting for the new student, Black-Star was being himself and bragging like usual. Soul was sitting up against the school's wall, chilling out. The two of them saw, three people walking up the steps, Death the kid and his Weapons the Thompson sisters.

WITH MARX

The weapon was quickly making his way to the academy's front door. He knew that a new student was enrolling today, and that was probably why his two best friends had decided to do something stupid.

The both of them would have a lot of explaining to do, if Marx didn't kick their asses for Maka and Tsubaki first. Marx was aware of Tsubaki's fear of Soul and Black-Star switching out, and it made him mad.

The two of them had always hung out together, it didn't necessarily mean that they were compatible. Marx knew this, but the neglect black-star was showing Tsubaki by not trying to console her or settle her fears, was what made him mad.

The mess that was about occur outside, gave Marx an incentive to get outside as fast as he could, the front doors came into view. He was relieved to see the fight hadn't started yet, but was getting there as the two of them seemed to be antagonizing the young reaper.

"You two, had better have one hell of an explanation for why you're out here, and antagonizing him!" Marx shouted as gestured to Kid, who was on the ground mumbling something.

"We can explain that!" They replied together. The both of them told Marx why Kid was acting the way he was. Marx accepted this and knew that it wasn't their fault, kid had a condition. So, he allowed the Thompson sisters to snap Kid out of it, and then they all started introducing themselves.

After kid had recovered, he saw the symmetry of Marx's uniform. Marx had worn an all olive drab version of his uniform to school that day. It was all lined up perfectly, every pouch, patch, zipper, stitch and clasp.

Kid was inspecting Marx's gear for, any inconsistency, any lack of symmetry at all. Miraculously, he couldn't find one anywhere, Marx's uniform was perfect in kid's eyes.

Marx was a little overwhelmed by Kid's being star-struck towards him for the symmetry of his uniform. Kid then stuck out his hand to Marx. Marx took it, and shook it, the two of them were becoming fast friends.

"I'm Hunter, Hunter Marx. Some people call me 'Sturmgewehr', my friends call me Marx." Marx said proudly to Kid.

"Death the Kid. You can call me Kid. These are my weapons: the Thompson sisters Liz and Patty." Kid replied calmly as his two weapons waved happily to Marx and Marx waved back. Patty walked up to Marx and whistled, while Liz looked at his face and blushed a little, from seeing how handsome he really is.

Marx then high fived patty, and Liz seemed to smile at just how much Marx acted like a big brother to her little sister. He played rock, paper, scissors, with patty and made funny faces, she was laughing happily the whole time they were together.

After their meet and greet, Soul and Black-Star went back to antagonizing kid into a fight. Kid was all too happy to oblige them, they had ruined the school's symmetry.

Kid then entered a battle stance while Soul and Black-Star did the same. Marx just decided to stand back and watch, he wasn't sure how symmetrical he was in his weapon form, and didn't want to get on Kid's bad side because of it.

WITH MAKA AND TSUBAKI-CLASSROOM

There were sounds of destruction and chaos outside, the class room was quiet, stein was about to make his incision on the still living creature on his operating table. Maka stopped him and inquired if it was school rules for a teacher to observe student battles.

Stein agreed and stopped his dissection, he then brought Maka and Tsubaki with him seeing as how their partners were the ones battling the new student. The girls agreed and followed stein outside, their friends were battling a new powerful adversary and they wanted to see two of the three boys get what was coming to them.

OUTSIDE-SCHOOL DOORSTEP

The battle between Kid, Black-Star and Soul was heating up, with kid laying down a barrage of soul rounds at his opponents. Soul and Black-Star were in way over their heads, kid hit soul in the torso with a blast from his pistols and sent a hail of weapons fire at Black-Star.

Kid was extremely efficient in battle and was giving the two friends a fight they shouldn't have picked. Stein and the girls arrived and stood next to Marx, the three of them asked Marx why he wasn't jumping in.

Marx replied, that he didn't want to throw more fuel on the fire. Stein understood his meaning, but told him that he should know them well enough, that if he doesn't offer they might not ask for help.

So, he did, and soul was all too happy to oblige and take the extra hand. Marx then transformed and landed Black-Star's hands, he pulled the trigger and a storm of soul rounds was unleashed in kid's direction. Kid was dodging all the heavy weapons fire.

Tsubaki was still troubled by the thought of black star abandoning her, and seemed distant when she watched the fight. Maka and stein were observing the souls of the teams of fighters.

Stein observed that, kid's team was in perfect harmony while the trio of Soul, Black-Star and Marx was in almost complete disarray. Maka was a little embarrassed by her team's lack of cooperation.

For the first-time kid was having a hard time fighting, he then attacked from above, using the height advantage to get a leg up and bring the hurt to his opponents. The trio on the ground were in chaos as rounds of Kids soul wavelength were rained down on them from above.

Marx transformed back into human form and used his arm to let out a burst of close quarters fire, kid was dodging all of the barrage. Black-Star and Soul tried to work together but Black-Star couldn't lift Soul in his scythe form. Soul then changed back, jumped, transformed again and slashed downward at kid. He just barely missed kid, cutting off a few strands of kid's hair.

He then jumped back and brought out his secret weapon, the death cannon. Soul and Black star were dumb enough to tell him to bring it on.

Marx powered up and used his beast mode to strengthen himself to block the force of the incoming attack. Soul and Black-Star, still antagonized Kid and were about to pay the steep price of angering the young reaper. Kid charged up his attack, Liz and Patty gave a count down, then he fired his death cannon.

The attack was as strong as an artillery salvo and left a large, skull-shaped, plume of smoke in its wake. The trio was battered and beaten, soul and Black-Star were on their backs on the ground of the crater, Marx was still barely standing, heavily singed, appearing like he was badly barbecued, with his arms crossed in a bracing stance.

Kid then, dropped on the ground as a comical amount of blood spewed from his mouth and he twitched. His two weapons knew what it was and scraped kid off the ground.

Stein pointed out that the reason that kid dropped down is because of the strands of hair that were now unevenly cut. He then concluded that since Marx was still standing, he was the winner of the battle.

After he heard that, Marx kneeled down and dropped to the floor tilting his head to the side. The girls then came over to the three of them and started picking them up off of the ground, Maka and soul reconciled whatever differences they had.

Tsubaki and Black-Star did the same, Marx smiled at the show of true friendship, and then he asked out loud if someone could scrape him off of the ground. Maka and Soul picked him, up and they had a group hug. All of them were now feeling more inseparable than ever.

Lord death appeared and apologized for any problems kid may have caused them other students. The four of them then took their leave and walked down the academy's steps. Maka attempted to see the soul of the Grim Reaper, but it didn't seem like he had one.

Soul and Marx called out to her and she caught up to them deciding that that The Grim Reaper just doesn't have a soul. She was unaware that the grim reaper's soul encompassed the whole city.

-END CHAPTER-


	12. Nightmare of the past present and future

Nightmares of the past, present, and future

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. I made a few retcons here and there, Marx's power is a berserker mode of sorts and is activated through 'rage' so that's what I'll call it, I had to change the color to red because of the new form he'll receive. I needed a new color, that's all. Hope you understand that and enjoy the story.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

TUESDAY NIGHT-AFTER FIGHTING KID

Marx had been sleeping in soul's room in his weapon form like usual, but tonight something was different. he was dreaming peacefully of his old family his birthdays, Christmases, and vacations, they were the times when anyone was happy, but it was when he started to lose himself to the pressures of high school along-side his problems at home, that he learned they were there for him.

His father stood up for him when the system failed him, all the torment he received from his enemies, his father was there and gave him permission to fight back, it felt good. His mother had tried to help him along in school when she wasn't paranoid. His sister tried her best to help him along in math and he did his best to show his appreciation.

His brother was dependent on him when he had broken his ankle and he took care of him with his best efforts. His life was hell most of the time, but when it wasn't he was happy, truly happy. He missed it the good times, then he was standing in his front yard, he could see it the same as it ever was, he was home.

(Play the Song: Mad World by Gary Jules from the Gears of War 3 soundtrack and trailer)

As he began to approach his front door, the ground shook under his feet and his home began to crumble and burn. He saw a picture of his family fly out of the living room window, the frame landed at his feet.

The picture was burnt, he picked it up, and the ends were heavily singed, and his face was burned off of it. his family ran out of the front door, but as they were about to reach him, a light shined from above. this light was not one of salvation, it was one of destruction his family was caught in it, and they were burned to statues of ash where they stood.

He braced himself, the light disappeared and the world around him faded to black. His family was frozen in front of him, their statues of ash didn't move. He approached them slowly, as he attempted to touch one of their hands, they disintegrated before his eyes.

He could only watch in horror as they all formed a collective pile of ash on the floor. Marx ran to the pile of ash and hopelessly tried to reform the ashes into his family.

The ashes simply blew away, he was alone in a world of darkness, no sound, no people, nothing. Only a bright light shining down on him in the empty void.

(End Song)

The light was one of hope now as it grew brighter a new world appeared around him. The forest where found Maka and Soul, he walked towards the direction of death city and there it was in all of its glory.

His friends were now standing there at the city's edge he ran to them as fast as his legs could carry him. He reached them and greeted them all then something happened.

(Play the Song: War by Sick puppies)

Shadow creatures appeared and surrounded them, they fought back against the darkness triumphing over their dark foes. As they were about to celebrate, an entire army of shadows appeared, the tide of darkness began to grow worse and blotted out the city behind them.

They kept fighting, righteously believing they could defeat the darkness all of their souls were in perfect harmony. Kid and the Thompson sisters were blasting away with his death cannon, Maka and soul were using the witch hunter, Black-Star was using a new technique, one that Marx had never seen before.

Tsubaki had become a beautiful, all-black katana, and tribal tattoos appeared all over Black-Star's body. Black-star was slashing at and destroying entire groups of enemies, he was unstoppable.

Marx was now being attacked and transformed both of his arms into guns and began firing into the hordes of enemies powering up into his 'Rage'. The power increase was enough to push back the shadows, but it was not anywhere close to being the kind of power he needed to stop them all.

He needed to reach Maka and soul, they were beginning to get overwhelmed and needed his help. He couldn't stand it, the feeling of being trapped while he watched them all fighting. using all their power and he couldn't stop them from getting overrun even, Kid was beginning to lose ground to the innumerable amounts of enemies pouring in from all sides.

He was now losing ground after his power boost wore off, he needed more power, he needed to stand against the darkness he wanted to shield his friends from their fate. He saw it coming they would all perish if something didn't change and soon.

Marx felt a new power rise within him a light of pure heart, this felt as if he could take on the world, his guns' power increased tenfold, he was now plowing through the hordes picking up the slack for his friends. they were in awe of his newfound strength as his power began to rise even more than in his beat mode. This surge of power was ignited with the powerful desire not to avenge them, but to protect them.

He transformed and swapped places with soul, Maka caught him and he began to resonate with her for the first time, he turned into a massive Browning M2 chain-gun modified for handheld use. They tore through the hordes of shadows like they were made of paper mache.

If Marx used standard ammunition the floor would have been painted brass from the many rounds that streamed from his barrel. He left the battle ground get covered with shadows faster than they could appear and disintegrate. He ended his resonance with Maka and swapped back with soul. Returning to using his guns and melee attacks.

His aura was blue now, not red and instead of him feeling a struggle for control and a lack of energy, it kept building as he fought and protected his friends from the shadows. The sparks of his aura were now blue and more frequent, like watching lighting being attracted to him.

the energy was reaching its max charge and Marx could feel the roof of his power a limit that seemed like a locked gate. He knew there was more to it, a reserve that he just couldn't seem to tap into yet, that lock needed a key.

The lock could be smashed by his power, he knew that much but it was a level of strength that he would have to train hard and fight to reach. He charged at the shadows breaking them into pieces with his guns and kicks, he was clearing it out leaving his family safe from all the shadows.

(End Song)

A wide circle of darkness had formed around them with the shadows retreating into it. and the power of his new blue aura and resonance with Maka are what did it, his wavelength had begun to feel almost peaceful, like a new serene feeling driving the dark madness away.

Then time stopped, Marx felt something new, a kindred spirit with a weapon of darkness. The kindred spirit was slowly floating towards him, his friends disappeared and so did the shadows, the circle of darkness remained.

This spirit was giving off the feeling of being trapped in a cage of madness and fear. Another soul, this one looking purple, was keeping the key and a Cerberus like being was guarding the cage.

The Cerberus was radiating madness, the purple soul was pure unrestrained evil. A black, snake-like spark swirled around the cage, almost like a chain. The spark-snake hissed at the peaceful aura of Marx, he continued on towards the cage and felt the snake try to bite him, it disintegrated at his touch.

The soul in the cage shuddered, like it was in fear of the peaceful being in front of it. Marx felt a warm pulse at the soul's touch, there was a small, blue, flame being smothered by madness.

The flame glowed a bit brighter at Marx's touch, he was giving it hope, he was giving it life. The Cerberus attempted to bite at Marx too, the Cerberus was smacked aside, and it whimpered, fearfully backing away.

He continued pulsing energy into the soul's flame, it glowed brightly, almost like a smile. The purple soul seemed to be angered by Marx's messiah like nature, it attempted to douse the souls flame with more madness.

Marx stood like a wall between the little flame and the tide of tar-like madness. The tar then turned into a large black spike and pierced through Marx's aura shield.

He took the stab to the torso and retaliated, breaking off the spike and throwing it like a javelin at the purple soul. The purple soul absorbed the javelin of madness unaffected, and black arrows began to form around Marx.

They slithered around like snakes, readying themselves to strike at their prey. He then gripped at the cage's bars bending them slightly, the little soul flame flickered again, hoping to be free.

The arrows struck and Marx was impaled multiple times, he then began to kneel down in pain before coughing up black blood and seeing the little soul flame connect with another one nearby, the new soul was orange with pigtails. He instantly knew it was Maka's, making an unconscious bond with the little blue flame seeming to bend the bars on cage even more, before it was dragged away, by the Cerberus and the evil purple soul.

He then began to fade into the darkness before catching a glimpse of an even greater power of madness. This power of madness radiated from them lone figure, the figure's power was standing to be more powerful than his own. Marx fought the feeling of fear he had towards this new figure.

The black blood oozed out of his wounds and he fought it at first but accepted it as a necessary evil. The madness was trying to corrupt him and became stronger the closer he came to the figure of pure madness.

He struggled, but felt the black blood bend to his will as it became a part of him. The black blood did it's work and began to heal its new host. His mind was struggling to fight the new voice he heard behind him. A little devil creature appeared behind him, it wore a black suit and talked with an eerie tone.

"Why struggle, it's pointless. Just relax and let me take the wheel. C'mon, the power of madness feels good, take a load off and come with me." The Little Devil beckoned with sweet words of freedom.

"No, I have people to protect. I can't lose my family. Not again, never again. I have battled my own personal demons before and you are no different." Marx responded bravely refusing to let himself be controlled.

"You'll give in, all you need is a little time to see things my way. The way to that little soul you helped is through me. I'll take the black blood back for now. You'll get a healthy dose of it later I'm sure. When that happens, then you and your new little family can keep it." The Little devil responded and with a wave of his puffy hand, the black oozed out of Marx's still healing cuts. And like that it was gone, the little devil grinned almost as if he knew that Marx would receive the black blood again later in the physical world.

The little devil walked away and another figure of the madness appeared, the one from before. Marx saw the figure approach and everything faded to black again.

THE APARTMENT-SOUL'S ROOM-MIDNIGHT

Soul had been sleeping peacefully, turning in his sleep and enjoying a good dream, then he woke up to go to the bathroom. he noticed Marx leaning up against the wall, same as ever.

Soul then went and did his business, after he came back, he saw Marx was shaking and groaning. He was having a nightmare; the nightmare was causing him to glow an ominous blue. Soul was a little freaked out by this and attempted to wake up his buddy.

"Hey, Marx! Wake up! C'mon dude, wake up!" Soul whispered in a worried tone. Marx simply groaned and a blue light was glowing from his grenade launcher. Soul had never seen Marx use his launcher once, ever. So, this was really freaking him out now, if that launcher went off, the explosion would wreck the apartment.

"Marx wake up! Wake up! Wake up, wake up!" soul was doing everything he could to shake his roommate into waking up but, Marx was still dreaming. Finally, soul lost it and punched Marx's shark eye, this woke up Marx and he let out a gasp.

"What, what happened, where am I?!" said Marx worried and sweat dropping.

"Easy buddy, you were having a bad dream. I woke you up, you had had this weird blue glow and your launcher was glowing too. Almost, like you were going to fire it in your sleep." Soul explained coolly.

"Well for what it's worth, thanks soul." Said Marx gratefully.

"Your welcome. It was only a bad dream, right?" soul asked a little worried.

"You have no idea. If that launcher had gone off there's no telling what would have happened." Marx replied with concern.

"We should tell Maka about this. Do you even remember what it was all about?" soul asked.

"Only that everyone we know was in it." Marx replied truthfully. He couldn't remember most of what happened consciously, which in this case would be a good thing.

"Yep, we're definitely telling Maka in the morning." Soul said confidently.

"No argument here my friend." Marx said coolly.

"Now let's get back to sleep." Soul said with a yawn.

"You read my mind." Marx agreed and they both went back to having pleasant dreams.

THE NEXT MORNING-BEFORE CLASS

"So, you can only remember that we were all in it. That's it?" Maka asked inquisitively.

"Yes, I know what I remember. I was just having a bad dream, everyone has them now and again. Whatever it was I'm sure it's fine now. This is not like last time." Said Marx truthfully.

"If you're sure, I'll take your word for it. But, if it happens again as bad, we will tell professor Stein or Sid about this." Maka said with concern for her partner.

"Naturally, it's protocol after all." Marx said coolly.

-END CHAPTER-

When He, Soul, and Maka actually meet Crona later along with Medusa, he'll unlock a new level of his 'Rage' ability, coupled with the black blood his fury is going to drive him mad. this event has left him a little unhinged. much of what he saw is the future, including Maka and Crona's souls bonding. all of the repairs he did to Crona won't last and neither will Crona's memory of the event. Medusa is all powerful in that world, Marx is not able to beat her there. physically though that may be another story. Soul receiving the black blood is a key event, therefore it will not change. Medusa will have an inkling of what it was but won't investigate it until later. I'M STOPPING FOR A WHILE TO WATCH THE SERIES. EXPECT DELAYS. DMANDOG056 OUT


	13. Crona and Medusa: Familiar Foes

Crona and Medusa: Familiar Foes

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

THE WEEK OF FIGHTING KID AND NIGHTMARES

Marx had succeeded in keeping his thoughts hidden from Maka about what happened but he was still troubled by it. his dream had felt so real. He had met a little devil creature, what had its words meant? Had they been lies to confuse him or drive him insane?

If so why, to make him a monster? He would never allow himself to fall into that fate but it was not a guarantee that he could. He knew only one answer, fight. He would rage against the dying of his light. The light he felt inside when he battled within his own nightmare.

He knew that eventually madness gets to everyone slightly but to him it didn't matter he had a new purpose a family, and that was worth protecting to him. He knew that if he let the madness take him that was it there was almost coming back, a snowball's chance in hell.

His mental war was one that could be fought conventionally at least. Soul had suspicions but never voiced them, he felt that Marx could take care of his pain himself. The week had been good so far, Maka had even planned an extracurricular mission to Italy. Soul was jazzed about it, Marx didn't hate the idea some travel would do him good.

FRIDAY-ROME, ITALY-NIGHT

A mysterious, female, hooded figure rode a broom above the city, the figure was grinning sadistically. She looked down into the streets below and mumbled to herself inaudibly. On the streets, was another figure, scrawny, and frail in appearance but still seemed menacing in its own way. The figure on the ground was acting erratically and seemed to shiver constantly.

SATURDAY-ROME, ITALY-MORNING

The trio were riding on soul's custom chopper style motorcycle through the streets of Italy, soul was happy to be there sightseeing. Maka told soul explicitly, that they were there to gather info on the city. Soul attempted to counter her with the fact that their target only came out at night, so why not get in some tourism for the day.

Marx was in his weapon form on Maka's back. he offered his two cents on the matter while remaining neutral to both sides of the argument. Yes, they were there on an assignment, but he didn't see the harm in seeing the sights.

That said he also, agreed that a lack of intel on the layout of the city could jeopardize their mission. They'd be unable to find the target if they got lost trying figure the city's layout while in pursuit. Maka finalized that there was to be no sightseeing, period.

Soul gave up and Marx went to sleep. The three of them continued riding around exploring the city for a while longer. Eventually sometime before noon, they stopped and parked the bike near a church. They got off and continued down the street before soul bumped into a guy.

The man was a loud thug, who grabbed soul by the collar of his jacket, and yelled into his face with much spittle on each word. Soul told the man he didn't what group of thugs he was with and that he should stop spitting in his face. The thug's gang appeared and surrounded the trio refusing to let them pass.

Marx was woken up by one of the thugs attempting to steal him off of Maka's back. Marx woke up and transformed, the thugs began to fear the tall soldier in front of them but quickly reassured themselves that they had strength in numbers.

"Maka this guy just tried to steal me. Do you mind if I beat them up? He did just attempt kidnapping." Marx asked while stretching himself out.

"Only, if keep getting in our way." Maka answered with exasperation and a sigh.

"This guy is holding me the air. Hey can you put me down, jerk?" Soul asked nonchalantly.

"No one messes with our gang. Get 'em boys." The thug leader bellowed.

Marx then cracked his knuckles and hit the first thug in the crotch. Followed by a headbutt. The next thugs attacked as a group of 5 rushing him. Marx simply walked over to them and threw a haymaker knocking down the 5 thugs he then, jump-kicked taking down 2 thugs at once.

A group of 3 more thugs rushed him. The thugs attempt to grab him, he simply shrugged them off. They were weaklings, or he was just that strong, he guessed the latter and lifted his arms with little resistance. Two of the thugs let go and hit the ground, he curb-stomped one and crotch-kicked the other.

The third thug looked at him as if he were looking into the eyes of fear itself. Instead of surrendering, the thug attempted to punch Marx in the face, the punch didn't even faze him. He looked at the thug, the thug was frozen, Marx brought up his leg and door-kicked him, knocking the thug out.

There were 20 more thugs that Maka and soul dealt with in record time. The thugs were all knocked out, and the trio continued on their way. They eventually left the area and continued to search for their target. Marx had packed a lunch, for the trip and ate it as he walked, sharing his food with his friends.

The three of them enjoyed their trail lunch of ham sandwiches, soda, chips, and water. The trio were enjoying themselves despite only stopping to rest occasionally, it was a good afternoon for them while they searched for their target among the city's population and alleys.

They stopped again around dusk, Marx had planned ahead and brought MREs for them to eat for dinner. Maka and Soul asked why he didn't bring anything like the lunch from earlier, he told them that there was on so much he could bring with him and two pails was too much. The three of them ate the MREs with some displeasure but were happy to eat free.

Soul had wanted pasta but Marx reminded him he didn't bring any foreign currency and they couldn't just find a bank and exchange any money they did have for Italian money. Soul was silent at Marx's use of logic and simply shrugged his shoulders with a sigh.

After they were done with their meal, the trio walked around more searching for their target. Eventually they found him in an alley about to kill someone. Marx transformed and Maka caught hi, she fired using his semi auto mode and hit the target in his leg.

The target then attempted to flee using the rooftops, but was unable to move on when Maka hit him with another shot, in the other leg. The target was now on the defensive and attacked the trio. He was killed by soul instantly. Soul then grabbed the little red ball and ate it. Maka asked how exactly kishin souls tasted, soul said they didn't really have a flavor but felt good going down.

Marx agreed, kishin souls were pretty good eating for a weapon. That reminded him, he now had 82 souls from their past missions together as well as the ones he had from before. He asked Maka if it was possible to share his bounty between him and soul.

She said that it was, but soul refused saying that, Marx had earned his share. Soul was sure, and Marx simply shrugged in compliance. Then Maka noticed something nearby, a pair of souls, a weapon and a Meister with odd wavelengths. They were surrounded by many human souls the all of the sudden they just vanished.

The human souls had disappeared, but the other two remained soul wanted to let someone else worry about but Maka was firm about upholding their duty as students of the DWMA to take care of threats like this. Marx agreed, if the two souls had just made all the others disappear then means civilians had just been killed and nobody would know, because there may not even be evidence to find.

Soul then gave up, and followed his partners to the place where the two souls were currently. It was the same church from earlier where they had parked their bike. The church was giving off an ominous feeling of uneasiness, two of the three friends noticed this.

For Marx, every alarm bell that could ring in his head, did. For Maka something similar was going on in her mind, but she plucked up some courage and opened the door. Inside they saw a scrawny boy who wore an all-black robe, black shoes, and white cuff links.

The boy's hair was a light purple hue, his eyes were wide open with a blank expression. His face and skin were pale, the expression on his face was one of shyness and confusion. Maka then questioned the boy on who he was and what happened to the other souls.

She then inquired if he was from the academy and stated that the taking of human souls was strictly forbidden. The boy simply looked at the trio and babbled about not being able to deal with something. Marx wasn't listening to the boy's babble, instead he was focused on the boy, why was he familiar?

It made Marx frown under his bandanna and goggles. Marx's helmet hid the rest of his face well, the night vision set was equipped and it was upgraded with a thermal function. The thermal function was able to pick up souls, he flipped down the night vision headset and looked at his suspected target with them. The soul was looking even more familiar but he still couldn't place it.

The boy then turned around and mumbled as if he were speaking to a separate entity of some sort. He then turned around then with an insidious grin on his face. Then a giant hulking creature erupted out of his back and started picking on the boy it was attached to the boy called it Ragnarok. The two beings argued before the boy's giant parasite pulled back into him. He pulled a strange sword out of thin air and the sword grew a pair of lips then it screamed. The trio were dazed and covering their ears.

The scream stopped and the boy charged at Maka. Soul transformed just in time for Maka to grab him and block the incoming attack. Soul was being pushed past his limit and started to bleed. Marx saw that soul wouldn't hold much longer and transformed his arms into dual rifles.

The barrage of dual weapons fire pushed the attacker back, and Marx got in between his partners and the boy. The weapon screamed again, Marx was prepared this time and engaged his rage ability powering up to take the sonic blasts being hurled the trio's way.

Marx charged at the boy holding his own and pushing back the opponent. The boy retaliated with vicious power strikes and stabs. Marx took slices to the shoulders, forearms and biceps, he was bleeding. Marx jumped back to attempt to shield his friends from being hit by their attacker.

But was too late as the boy struck at the two of them with large bolt of ground based dark energy. Soul transformed and blocked the attack by sacrificing himself, to shield Maka. Marx was infuriated at this sight and began to feel an all new sense of the meaning of the word rage.

Marx was now powering up beyond comparison, into his fury fueled transformation. His energy was going higher than it ever had before. He screamed in anger as he powered up dwarfing his opponent's power. He then pointed at the boy and made the gesture of a throat slice. But before he would attack his foe, he walked to Maka and soul. He knelt down and talked with friends calmly.

"Maka stay behind me. I'll deal with them. If you don't this will get very dangerous. Soul won't make it if you don't stop the bleeding." He said calming down knowing the only wisdom defeats madness.

"No, don't fight him we have to run." Maka said worriedly.

"He'll only chase us down. I have to end this now. I've been doing a little training." He said calmly and then he pointed at the mad swordsman.

(Play the Song: Vegeta's Super Saiyan Theme by Bruce Faulconer)

"You, scrawny and your pal ugly, you will pay for this. He's my best friend, she's like a sister to me. You just hurt them, I will make you feel their pain a thousand times over." He said with a calm tone.

"But before I do there's a little trick I'd like to show you, it's powered by madness and wisdom. Balanced between the two." He then braced himself and powered up.

"This is my rage." He then powered up again. "This is fury, but you can just call It rage 2."

"Let's get this started." He then slowly walked towards his opponent. "What's wrong, I thought you wanted to kill us."

"I'm the demon swordsman Crona, and why are you so familiar! I can't deal with fighting someone familiar." The boy now calling out his own name with confusion at the godlike being before him. His sword barked at him to shut up and cut him apart. The boy then attacked his aggressor, who caught the blade with his palms.

Marx let off a discharge of power, sending Crona flying back. Crona charged again and let out a scream with the sword. The point blank sonic scream sent Marx back to his friends, but that was all it did, he was unfazed. Marx simply locked eyes with Crona and stood his ground while marking an imaginary line on ground with his foot. He then approached Crona and punched him in the stomach.

The black blood spattered out of his mouth all over the trio. "That's from them, and this is from me!" Marx yelled as he grabbed Crona and threw him across the room. His black blood was hardened and very little damage got through. He thanked the sword sheepishly.

"Bloody Needle!" Crona called out as black spikes erupted from the ground in front of Marx. He dodged all the needles as they struck at him. His speed was incredible, gracefully avoiding each spike as if It was easy. Then, Professor stein and death scythe burst through the door and couldn't believe what they saw.

(End Song)

A lone weapon protecting his partners, like an enraged brother guarding his siblings. Against the demon sword, no less. The both of them regained their cool, and Professor Stein told Maka that Soul would make it. he then spun death scythe and joined in helping Marx deal with the threat of the demon sword and its host.

Stein and Death Scythe then sliced Crona, and another spatter of black blood erupted from him. He performed bloody needle and attempted to skewer the three warriors. Marx continued to dodge and avoid the needles of black blood. Stein did same.

The two of them drove the fight outside and began to fight even more fiercely with all of the new space they had for combat. Stein and Death Scythe then resonated their souls and created a shield around themselves. Blocking all of the demon sword's attacks.

Then Marx created a distraction with his guns sending Crona into confusion. Stein used his opportunity and jumped into the sky, landing a downward spin kick to Crona's head, dizzying him. Stein then used his soul attack to deliver a powerful concussive blow to Crona's midsection knocking him onto the ground.

The boy's body erupted into a series of spikes rapidly forming and receding into his body causing extreme pain. Stein called it soul rejection. but suddenly nearby, a powerful witch released her soul protect and they were all instantly aware of the newest threat. This jarred loose some memories for Marx, this was the soul that had beaten him in the dream world.

"You, witch! Are you the one responsible for that boy's misery? If so, then your little experiment has been a terrible mistake. 'Usted morira la bruja de la serpiente!'"

"Oh, so you're a Spaniard. Thank you for all data. I'll have to punish him for failing me, and I'll punish you too. And you will be the one to perish later. But maybe I'll play with you for a little bit." She said to Marx in a sadistic condescending tone.

"Bring it, bruja. If you think you've seen the best I can do, you're sorely mistaken." Marx pointed his guns at the witch. Instead of using his high-powered soul rounds, his grenade launcher barrels began to glow again. The launchers charge illuminated the ground around him.

"Sturmschlag!" he cried as two, bright, powerful, beams of energy erupted from his launcher barrels.

"Vector arrow!" she shouted as multiple black arrows rained down on them from the sky. Marx's blast and the witch's attack collided, causing one hell of a light show. She then commanded a tattoo on her right arm to turn into a snake, the snake picked up Crona and returned him to the witch.

"Who would have thought I'd run into the legendary Meister of the DMWA and Death Scythe, even the famous little Sturmgewehr. I only came here on an errand, so I can't stay and kill you now, have to cut and run." She said as she made her escape.

"It's okay let's leave her for now, and worry about soul." Stein said coolly. Maka is seen huddled over her fallen partner, Death Scythe walks over to her and comforts her. Marx simply powers down and drops to the floor, he loses consciousness and it all fades to black.

-END CHAPTER- (Play the Song: Me and Mine by The Brothers Bright)

After what happened here Marx will become more like John Marston (Red Dead Redemption). The madness he was already displaying will be amplified by his black blood. He will be more violent in that state due to a slight loss in control. Who's to say he won't just start laughing like the joker? The black blood will increase his rage forms powers extremely. It will allow him to join Maka in Crona's mind. She will ultimately still be the one to free Crona. But Marx will be in a coma for a while, thanks to his wounds and the overuse of his powers before he could learn to regulate them better.


	14. Getting Up: Acceptance

Getting Up: Acceptance

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. This chapter is pretty much a compressed bunch of chapters into one. I know I should try to squeeze out more chapters but Inspiration is hard to come by. So, I'm doing the best I can. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

ATFER LOSING CONCIOUSNESS (Play the Song: Soul of A Man from The Mad Max game trailer)

Marx was satisfied that he had saved Maka and soul. If he was dead he could live with it, if he wasn't he wanted to wake up. An indeterminate amount of time had passed, while he was in a coma his friends were probably visiting him every day. Within himself, He saw a world of desert and dead sands, a world gone mad.

Where the strong ruled, morality, justice, and mercy didn't exist anymore, and hope was dead, glory was lost, all consumed by the madness that surrounded him. A world where streets were paved to nowhere, he was taught it took a hero to change things. In that mad world, he wasn't a hero, he was a survivor, the man called Marx.

He battled his inner demons, who were led by the man he would become if he fell to madness, a warlord of darkness. The little devil and a Wandering Mystic battled quite often, and The Mystic helped Marx to resist the demon. Being trapped in your own head, coupled with a near death experience can change people.

For him his change was a sense of failure for not being there for his friends while he was asleep. He found a sage in his subconscious, The Wandering mystic who shielded, guided him and trained his mind, unlocking numerous new abilities within himself. He could use an M1911 form for close range engagement or easier carrying, a semi-auto shotgun for heavier firepower. And even flight while in his rage mode.

Now the only problem was what now? He could either wait until he woke up, or find the way out of that mad world. If time was the enemy then he had to train more. The Mystic's training is what would keep him from getting bored or insane so with his help, Marx sparred with his own reflection. Know thy self before knowing your enemy. If he had to, he would train, he eventually found the powerful form he retained while in the spirit world.

And used it to move about the realm of souls. He was able to find Maka and soul and give them he feeling that he was in there, trapped, but it was his choice to fight. It was on his head not hers. And soul was happy to have the feeling that his other best bud was alright. So, Marx had been battling his other self the warlord, at the wall of his comatose state fighting to wake up, regain his freedom and his sanity.

He defeated the warlord, and the gateway to the waking world was opened. The little devil was standing beside it waiting for Marx. "How did you win? I was sure I had you! The warlord should've won he was strong, cold, brutal, mad. How could you win?" The Little Devil stood there stunned.

"I won because, have something worth fighting for. I have a group of friends who have stood by me and I have been there for them. I know who I am, Hunter Marx, a hero, a wanderer, a friend. That is who I am, not that pile of waste dead in the dirt." Marx said to the little devil. His words caused the imp-like demon grow smaller, to the size of a mouse.

"So, I have to accept you as a part of me. Everyone is mad to their own extent, even me, I chose to not let it consume me. I choose to be better than that, true freedom is to walk my path, un-haunted by my past, or what looms in the future, and even what lays at the back of my mind. To me, if it's a resource, I intend to use it, and then discard it. But my friends are something more than that, they are more than just a means to an end, so much more that I cannot describe." He said proudly, as he picked up the depressed little devil with his hand, and closed his fist causing the little devil to disappear into small fading black wisps. Marx then walked into the bright light of salvation, his life waiting for him.

(End Song)

His awakening was much awaited by his friends and he greeted the school's new nurse. Something about her though made him uneasy. His uneasiness was noted by her, she was the witch he had fought in disguise after all. Marx didn't know this but his tactical sense was giving off a small alarm for suspicion. The problem was he'd have to wait for that suspicion to come to fruition.

Marx decided to start training, and didn't hang out with his friends very often. He wasn't avoiding them, he had lost a lot of strength, and needed to be ready to fight with soul and Maka again. They understood this and left him alone occasionally sparring with him.

ONE WEEK LATER

Marx used his new abilities like a pro and went on solo missions again. At first Maka and Soul disapproved but Marx told them if he didn't push himself it wouldn't be training. Eventually Marx had finally his 99th kishin soul. Marx allowed his team mates to continue on their own, he felt that he didn't always need to be there to hold their hands. They were partners before him, and would still be without him.

Marx had learned of the things they had done while he was asleep and told them he was proud to call them his partners. They told him of how they had fallen out of sync and risked never being compatible again. They also told him of the black blood being mixed all of their own.

Marx simply shrugged saying he already knew. They were curious to know how he knew, he told them that he met the little devil and accepted him. They stood back a bit fearing his sanity, he quelled their fears by telling them that the reason why he had changed so much is because of that.

He fought the demon, and eventually absorbed him, he also admitted that peace came with a price. He would now have less control over his rage form and risked their safety. He was crazy in his own way, but so was everyone else. They were relieved when he told them that. He was also informed of Free the immortal werewolf who had a witch's eye. Marx understood the tactical advantages that it brought, he knew that if he ever fought the werewolf to use extreme caution.

ONE WEEK LATER (Play the Song: All-Star by Smash mouth)

The written exam was coming up so Marx had decided to study hard. For Marx, the exam meant he could see where he stood in his knowledge of his school work. The test was definitely not going to be easy, he knew that off the bat. What's more is that professor stein had written. He knew soul would try to cheat, and he'd pay for it.

Marx enjoyed studying with Maka as a study buddy, for one she helped him concentrate on the harder parts of the subject, while he helped her stay on track. He knew black star probably wasn't going to score very high on it, but Tsubaki would do pretty well. He just went with the flow and stayed on track keeping his nose in the books until dinner. After that he went to sleep.

DAY OF THE TEST

Marx had gotten plenty of sleep, so did Maka and soul. The three of them walked to school and wondered what each of them would score. Soul was sure of himself as usual, Marx was feeling pretty good about it and Maka was thinking she score high as well. Marx knew why soul was sure of himself, he also knew Sid the zombie would be administering the test. Sid would have soul figured out pretty fast.

Once they were in classroom the pressure was on, Marx saw all of his friends working hard or most of them. Patty was making a paper giraffe, kid was trying to make his name perfect, Black-Star was goofing was caught cheating, and eventually soul was too. Soul got to continue the test and everyone else did just fine. Soul barely passed, Marx and Tsubaki were in the 20's and Maka was number 1. Marx gave her a pat on the back and a thumbs up. He was prouder of her than ever before and she could see it.

-END CHAPTER-

Marx's sanity is like that of the dimension 23 red hood from batman the brave and the bold: his sanity is bent, but not broken. He's sane but, he'll always be a little screw loose. Yes, in his mind he was Mad Max, it was his version of Griffa, who helped him along the way, and his alternate-self was like Scrotus. This Griffa was a bit more outgoing, in his approach. That's the last of the mad max cameos, enough said.


	15. Marx: A Death Scythe in Training

Marx: A Death Scythe in Training

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

ONE WEEK AFTER THE WRITTEN EXAM

Maka, Soul and Marx had been hunting for the one and final soul Marx needed, to become a death scythe. All that he required was the soul of a witch, one witch. Soul envied his friend but knew that Marx had earned his share. That was enough for soul, his friend from nowhere, was going to be a somebody.

Whereas Soul still required, around 20 more souls for him to do the same. But it didn't bother him at all. Marx was family to Soul and Maka, he stood his ground and fought back Crona without any help from what Maka had told him. Killing a witch was something they all had to do together, Marx wanted them there to see it.

the witch they were hunting was a powerful one, not as tough as the one Marx battled before, but still decently strong. He asked for any additional intel on the target, she was an adult witch, by the name of Kratora Frioa. Her abilities were powers over fire and magma.

She had been sighted at the volcano of a national park, in the northern USA. The forest was beautiful, as the trio walked among the trees. They even asked the park rangers to stay clear, and hold onto their picnic lunch for them. The park staff were grateful for famous travelers to be visiting, and were kind enough to assist them with their investigation.

The three friends were all chatting happily on their trek through the park. The trees were all green and teeming with life. A small herd of deer ran by them and Maka cooed with awe. Marx was mindful of them simply smiling at nature's beauty. Soul even had a small smile as he saw the animals run by.

"Ah nature there's nothing like it, am I right?" Marx said while putting his behind his head as they walked on.

"This forest is beautiful, I wish we could stay here longer. We did pack a picnic lunch after all." Maka said happily.

"it's kind of cool here, the trees, the clean air and the animals." Soul said in a relaxed tone.

"Yep, nothing like it at all." Marx finished.

Not all the creatures were harmless like the deer, there were wolves and bears too. Marx knew to avoid the bears especially if they saw a cub to keep their distance. Momma bear was not far away, hiding somewhere or hunting.

They eventually saw a wolf on a hill near the trail, the wolf looked their way, twitched an ear, and ran into the forest. That was a majestic sight for all three of them, a warrior of nature. All of them began to approach the volcano's edge and knew that inside, lurked a deadly witch who thrived in the fire.

She had dreamed of burning the forest and making it her own lava pit. The trio wouldn't allow that to happen. So, they made it their goal to save the forest from this witch's evil plan. The witch would know someone was coming and the trio had planned for that.

They knew to be ready for a fight, could the witch beat the three of them, no. They were a team, they were a family, and this family was a tough one. The trio reached the entrance to the cavern that housed the witch. The trio could feel the heat and smell brimstone on the wind, if the witch was anywhere it was here.

They walked down the cavern's corridor and proceeded with extreme caution. The walls were coated in obsidian and other forms of volcanic rock. The obsidian shined brightly when a light shined on it. The corridor branched off, and they knew that the witch was going to make it an unwinnable situation.

All of them walked slowly through the fiery pits, along a rigid path of scorched stone and rock. The heat was getting to them, Marx had brought plenty of water for the trip. His camelback was all filled up, and the trio stopped for a drink. The witch saw her chance and slowly made her way to a ledge above them.

She was sly and methodical in her approach. She reached the ledge and her hands began to glow brightly. She sent small licks of flame along the walls and then she ignited the cavern around them.

Maka had gotten the hang of sniping with Marx and fired a perfect shot at the witch, the shot made contact with the witch's leg crippling it.

the witch, now crippled used her flames to jet away from the heavily armed Meister. Maka took another shot and hit the witch in the shoulder. The witch lost her balance and hit the ground. She then used the cavern's natural lava flow, the magma was used in large burning rocks that were sent flying at the Meister.

Maka twirled her rifle and blocked the attacks. Soul attacked the witch from behind and sliced her back. the two of them prepared to end this, Maka fired Marx's grenade launcher, the beam destroyed the witch instantly. Her soul was the only thing that was left.

Marx claimed his prize and felt a new sense of power surge through him. He had now gained another additional form and power boost. The new form was that of an M60 machine gun, his power had increased exponentially.

Their victory was sweet, and Marx even did a victory dance, Soul and Maka laughed at that. Marx shrugged it off.

"Are we really that good, lucky or was she just weak? I'm banking on that we're good." Marx said proudly.

"I'd say we're that good. That only proves just how cool we are." Soul said coolly with a half-smile.

"Hey, you may be a death scythe now, but I'm still your Meister. Got it?" Maka said with a playful smile.

"That you are, Maka. Besides, like I said back in Italy, you two are like family to me, and you always will be." Marx said with a half-smile.

"Enough with the soft stuff. Let's go get our picnic." Soul said hungrily. Maka glared at soul but she agreed, Marx hid it but he was giggling at soul's dilemma. On that note, they all went back to ranger station and collected their lunch.

DEATH CITY-OUTSIDE THE ACADEMY-HOURS LATER-THE NIGHT BEFORE THE PARTY

"I'm A death scythe now. I know it's going to be a lot of responsibility. But hey it does have its perks." Marx said calmly.

"Technically, you're still a student. You're just like Justin now, one of the youngest students to become a death scythe. Since you're still a student you can stay with Maka and Soul. you still have to graduate before it's official." Professor Stein said coolly while taking a drag on his cigarette.

"Unofficially, welcome to the club rookie. You've earned it." Death Scythe said

"Thanks sir." Marx said proudly.

10 MINUTES LATER-THE APARTMENT

"Hey, I'm back!" Marx shouted as he walked in the door.

"Hey Marx, how did it go back at the academy?" Maka asked calmly.

"Well Professor Stein said that I'm officially still your partner." Marx said coolly.

"What's going on in here?" Soul asked as he walked in the room.

"I'm still part of the team." Marx answered with a flat tone.

"Oh, cool." Soul said calmly.

-END CHAPTER-


	16. The insurgency: save crona

The insurgency: save crona

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

(Play the Song: Run Through the Jungle by Credence Clearwater Revival)

Marx had left the party early, after saying hello to his friends, and hearing the Grim Reaper's announcement. Maka didn't like the idea, while soul was okay with it. Marx wasn't one for formal parties, and left to go home and sleep. As he was just getting to the school exit he felt the ground shake and knew that it had come from upstairs.

He ran outside and powered up into rage 1, his powers had been extremely increased by his death scythe status and the black blood. Making him 5 times as powerful as before. Those powers increased by multiples of 5 times with each transformation. He flew up to the top of the school to confront whoever was behind this. He found medusa and her 'partners', Medusa eyed the young man with ire.

"You three, you just made tonight fun for and ruined it at the same time!" Marx shouted with anger in his voice. "Medusa, I knew you were up to something. Whenever you were around I felt rage, when you were near soul I felt my blood boil, when you crossed my path you seemed familiar." Marx continued on his roll. "You were the witch from Italy, you were the one who created that demon sword, you were the one truly responsible for his wounds."

"So, you figured it out. And it only took you a month." She said sarcastically. "Free, dispose of him."

The wolfman attacked Marx, he was swatted away like a fly. "Have a nice trip, I'll see you next fall!" Marx said proudly to the angry wolfman as he fell to ground below.

"Well, it seems you've become more powerful. I must say you're becoming quite the thorn in my side." Medusa said with a glare.

"You have no idea. So why don't you tell me what you're up to, like every other classic villain. Or do you want to drag this out playing games?" Marx said to medusa in a condescending tone. "I'm all for giving you the beating you deserve."

"If you must know I'm here to revive the kishin. It's not like you'll be able to stop me anyway." Medusa said to Marx as Mizune attacked him from behind knocking him to ground. He fell and his red aura disappeared, the surprise attack left him unconscious for a short time. Medusa used her opportunity to continue with her plan.

He woke up a short time later, at the school's entrance. Marx wouldn't let medusa do whatever she was planning, he made a b-line for the school's catacombs. Something told him his partners were in danger, the run through the chaos was a fast paced one, he caught the fighting between Blair and a witch dressed like a mouse. That witch was probably the one who knocked him out.

He eventually made it to his locker, donned his armor and made for the underground. He saw the witch battling stein and Death Scythe, those two needed all the help they could get so he didn't waste time getting involved. He powered up into rage 1 and jumped in.

"Surpriiiise! Remember me, Bruja?!" Marx cried as he took medusa by complete surprise. "This is for Soul and Maka, eat fist!" He landed a beautiful punch upside her head. "Hey professors, I'm going on ahead, show the bruja how we do things around here."

"Thanks for the hand kiddo!" Death Scythe shouted.

"You're not getting away! I still have to punish you for hitting me." Medusa shouted with a sadistic grin. She sent out her vector arrow, and one wrapped around Marx's leg and slammed him into a wall. "That's better, now you can all die together."

"I'm not out of this yet, that loosened a few joints." Marx said pulling himself free from the indent in the wall. "If you want to go, I'll gladly send you to hell, in the first cabin, of the ass-whooping express!"

"Such a foul mouth. You definitely deserve a punishment for that." Medusa said calmly with venom in her tone.

"You think we can take her professor?" Marx said to Professor stein. He transformed his arms into their M60 forms.

"It's not going to be easy I can tell you that much." Stein said cautiously.

"This 'll definitely be a good fight. Marx we'll give you enough breathing room to catch up with the others, they need all the help they can get." Death scythe said with a confident look on his face.

"You sure about that? You look like 'you' need all the help you can get." Marx said with a look of confusion.

"We'll be fine, stopping the kishin's revival is the top priority." Stein said with a calm tone, not taking his eye off of medusa.

"If you're sure then, professor." Marx said giving a two-finger salute. They rushed medusa and Marx found his opening making his escape to the lower catacombs. "Give her hell for me, by the way bruja, I'm going to enjoy wrecking your plan!" He said while using every ounce of flight speed he could muster.

He even fired his shotgun arms to get a speed boost, leaving a whirlwind in his wake. He ran and ran, he knew Maka and Soul needed him, he could feel the urgency in the air. He was being called like it was destiny again telling him to answer the call to duty.

He eventually reached them and saw her battling Crona, his instincts told him to stay away. There was a better tactical option and he'd fail them if he didn't wait for the right opportunity. He watched as Maka slowly succumbed to madness, soul must have been keeping her from sinking in too deep. He was proud but afraid for their safety. He couldn't let be lost to their inner demons, so his only option, to go mad.

He began to let his mind wander and unsealed is dark inner thoughts. The result was a laugh a sinister one at that. This laughter of his became hysterical, he rolled around on the ground letting the insanity take his mind, his soul retained enough control of his physical body, to transform and land on Maka's back.

He saw soul, in a small room talking with the little devil. He was battling to keep Maka tethered to world of sanity. "Marx?! How did you get here?" soul yelled in surprise. "I thought you were trapped or fighting outside?!"

"I'm here buddy and you need to stay here keeping Maka tethered. I'm going in after her, I know she always has a plan. What this other kid has felt all his life is pain. I know what that's like. He let it almost consume him, his own mother is the snake witch medusa." Marx said stopping to take a breath.

"I figured that out by how she talked and referred to him. To her, he's nothing more than an experiment. A tool, that she had to beat into being useful. If anyone can reach him, Maka and I can together I know it'll be worse for you but you have to hang on soul."

"I'll do what I can, if you're going after her do it now!" soul shouted while holding all three of their souls in the world of sanity.

"Wish me luck!" Marx said as he dove into the madness. 'Now Maka where are you? I know you're down here somewhere.' Marx thought to himself as he floated through a sea of black ink. 'If I can just find your soul, I can help you get to the end of this.'

He floated down further and further seeking his partner. He saw her soul at last and approached her, she was surprised to see him but grateful for the help. The two of them continued further until Maka saw Crona's soul. The pair then entered his soul-scape and saw a sandy beach, with no water, like a cool desert of sand.

They saw a kid version of him talking with his shadow. Marx guessed that it was his imaginary friend the voice of his madness torturing him. The little boy drew in the sand and the shadow asked questions to which the boy only abstained and then cried. Marx could feel a change and then he saw Maka and himself change into young children.

He stood up and walked over to Crona's circle he stood on the edge of it. He couldn't talk for some reason but, he remembered as a kid he didn't really say much at all so it was like the way it used to be for him. he saw Maka run up to him and say hello to Crona.

The little Crona was worried about his circle not working any more. Marx calmly walked over to him, with a pleasant smile on his face. He then got in front of Crona and Maka. She turned to him and smiled, he gave a thumbs-up to Crona. Maka then erased the circle and Crona was stunned.

They were catapulted out his soul-scape as Crona underwent soul rejection. The two of them swam through the ink sea's depths to reach Soul, who was waiting at its surface as fast as they could. He pulled with all his strength when they reached the surface and they were again in the real world. Maka put down her two weapons and calmly walked over to Crona taking cuts from the needles that protruded from his body. After a short time, she reached him and took his hand.

"Now I understand, your soul wavelength. It's not that you don't know how to deal with people, it's that no one ever took the time to deal with you." Maka said in a calm whisper while she hugged him.

"It's alright I've already been given up on plenty of times already, you understand I'm not needed for anything anymore. That's why I decided just now that it would be better for me to disappear." Crona said calmly.

"What do you, say will you let me be your friend Crona? Please say yes." She said, kindly sticking hand out to him. She followed that up with a giggle and Crona cried tears of joy.

"Really? But I still don't know how to deal with other people." He said while crying. The two of them eventually held hands and Crona continued to cry. Soul and Marx simply sat back and watched, both of them were grinning.

"The fear of interacting with other people, eh. Even I get that one." Soul said calmly. Marx nodded silently and then he noticed a change. He pulled out a safety pin from one of his utility pockets and poked his finger, the blood that came out was crimson red, not black. He was cured, his madness was gone, but his newfound strength remained.

"Where must we go? We who wander this wasteland, in search of our better selves." A familiar yet mysterious voice said solemnly. Marx knew it was his mentor, The Mystic from the wasteland, who spoke only for him to hear. "Your journey is long and fraught with peril, you will need all your strength wanderer. The madness is gone, your friend's purity of soul has cleansed your own. You are free of your shackles." The mystic said coolly as Marx hardened his resolve for what laid ahead of him.

-END CHAPTER-


	17. The Wars of Will and Skill

The Wars of Will and Skill

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Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

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"speech"/ 'thought'

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After the four friends had their moment, a tinier version of Ragnarok burst out of Crona's back. He was like a little black imp, Ragnarok then began to bully Crona and annoy the four teens. Crona then struck him and the little black imp sticking out of his back started bullying him even more.

Maka, Soul and, Marx had been attempting to get Ragnarok to stop but, Crona told them he would handle it. The three of them nodded and proceeded to the room where the kishin was supposed to be sealed up. Marx, Maka and Soul saw it all, the kishin was free, Black-Star and Kid were trying to stop it from escaping.

The kishin then burst through the ceiling of the room, tunneling to the surface. Maka's weapons transformed and she grabbed one of the skin ropes hanging off of the kishin. She used Soul's scythe form in an attempt to slow down or even stop the kishin but it kept tunneling to the surface unaffected by the meister's effort.

When the kishin asura burst through the ground Maka was knocked unconscious, Soul saw this, and reacted quickly, catching his partners as they fell and crashed into a pile of wooden crates. Just then old seals that the grim reaper had made also burst from the ground, the seals attempted to hold down the kishin asura.

They failed and he ripped them off one by one. The Grim Reaper and Asura exchanged pleasantries before he chopped Asura on his head sending him to the ground.

Asura retaliated sending cloth tendrils at the reaper, Death burned them. Death retaliated with blast of energy that cut asura in several places. Asura then took to the sky and fired energy blasts from two glyphs he summoned. Death blocked them, and then he charged at asura attempting to hit him with a chop.

Asura blocked the hit and retaliated, sending Death straight into a wall. The reaper attempted to force asura to the ground with a flat skull shaped force shield. Asura dispersed the field, stood up, and charged at death. Death attempted to block asura's attack but failed. Asura drilled through the reaper, taking a large portion with him. The reaper then retaliated with his own attack, asura deflected it and took off into the skies escaping.

THE NEXT MORNING

Soul dragged Maka out of the apartment, and Marx went with the two of them to play basketball with Black-Star, Tsubaki, Kid and the Thompsons. At the basketball court, Marx and the others attempted to coax Maka into playing. She threw a book at Black-Star's face, for him lying about everyone being okay with her staying on a bench.

Marx decided to be the referee in order to keep the teams even. Soul provided the idea for a challenge: if Maka's team loses she has to spend a day with her father, if kid's team loses one picture frame will be moved 2 centimeters off. Marx watched the game but, he couldn't stop from giggling at Maka's being lost at trying to play the game as team captain.

Stein and his new partner Marie showed up at sat on the bench. The two of them talked about work and then Maka's dad showed up and they all talked about the teens playing a game in front of them. Maka's team lost and she now had to spend a day with her father.

Kid was happy it wasn't him with the problem. Tsubaki wanted to let Maka off the hook. Maka then approached her father and she offered to spend a day with him. Death scythe was so overjoyed with the possibilities, he puked. Maka went to grab some medicine for him and Stein was still confused about why Death scythe puked if he was happy.

THE NEXT DAY-WITH SID

Sid was having a hard time that morning, trying to coax Crona out of his corner in the room he was staying in at the academy. Crona was still there curled up and not saying a word at all. Eventually Sid went to get Maka to see if she was willing to try getting Crona to leave the room.

She asked if it was alright for Marx to come with them, he didn't see why not. So, the three of them proceeded down the hallway to where Crona was staying. Sid explained the situation to Maka, and Marx simply nodded in acknowledgement. One of the new teachers, a death scythe, and stein's partner by the name of Ms. Marie bumped into them and joined the three of them on their way to meet with Crona.

The two of them went into the room one at a time. Maka went inside first and then Marx, Crona and Maka talked while Marx simply stood there and watched. Marie walked in next and greeted Crona, he was less shy with her in the room. Then Sid stuck his head in the room and Crona was back to being scared in his corner.

Marie pushed Sid out of the room, and Maka tried to cheer up Crona. Marx looked at him, and waved shyly with a small smile on his face. Then mini Ragnarok popped out of Crona's back, he then started arguing with Maka. Marie cooed over how cute he had become, while Marx 's brow furrowed at the sight of him.

Ragnarok then grabbed Crona's hand and flipped up Maka's mini-skirt. She was angry and embarrassed, so much that she hit Crona with a Maka chop by accident instead of Ragnarok. After that incident passed, the four of them walked around the school reintroducing Ms. Marie to it since she was student a long time ago, and giving Crona a new perspective on the life there.

They reached the school's courtyard, and Maka coaxed Crona into taking in the view. He eventually stuck his head up and was in awe of the city below. Marx gave Crona a soft pat on the back, if it had come from anyone besides Marx or Maka it would've scared him, with Marx it was different.

It was like he had a big brother when Marx was around. Crona had a small smile from that warm feeling Marx gave him. Crona then made a funny nervous face about how everything was so bright, Marie and Maka laughed, and Marx smiled. a few minutes later in a classroom, soul had joined the four of them, and he asked Crona how he felt about being there.

Crona said that it didn't feel like it was for him, Marie simply said that he was just feeling nervous. Soul growled at Crona's curling up in a corner. Maka and Marx held him back, Maka then suggested that Crona should try writing poetry. Soul laughed at the idea and he got a Maka chop in response.

Soul laughed again when Maka tried coaxing Crona into writing. And he was chopped for the second time. Marx simply rolled his eyes at his best friend's attitude. Maka suggested writing a poem to Crona once more. 30 minutes later when he was done he handed it to a cheerful Maka, she and Marie then read it, the both of them huddled into a corner depressed. Marx's eyes widened at this in shock.

Black-Star walked in, he was just as full of energy as ever. Soul stuck the poem in Black-Star's face and he read it, the next moment after he was depressed and in the corner too. Then soul and Marx decided to see why the poem had that effect, they both went to the corner with everyone else and Crona joined them. Sid showed up and asked how things were going and ended up in the same place as the students and teacher.

LATER IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Crona had been sent along with the trio to investigate the case of a berserk golem. They all wondered about the golem and why it went nuts. Maka started to ask the locals about it, they refused to speak with outsiders. They met a man named Giriko, who offered to show them the way to the berserk golem.

He seemed friendly enough but Soul and Marx didn't trust Giriko as far they could throw him. But they kept those thoughts to themselves. Giriko explained the economy of the village and why they made golems, soul and Marx began to get annoyed, Maka tried to calm them down.

Giriko began to talk about everyone having evil inside them, then the golem appeared. Soul and Marx transformed and took their places with Maka, she twirled soul and readied herself for a fight. She was then surprised by a soul wavelength emanating from the golem, an evil one.

Giriko approached the golem mumbling about having waited for this moment for 800 years. Giriko then revealed his true intentions and identity. He then transformed into a chainsaw, the golem grabbed the weapon. The students readied themselves for battle and the golem attacked taking a swing at Maka.

She gave the weapon and golem a warning about attacking them, they refused to listen. The golem revved Giriko and pulled him from the ground. The golem then continued to attack them, while Giriko ranted about how long he stored his hate. He then hit Maka a she was thrown into a tree.

Maka wanted to switch to Marx, but Marx pointed out that Giriko was way too risky for soul transform into his human form, he'd be completely exposed. And Marx hadn't been feeling so good the past few days. Ragnarok then came up with an idea, Crona's screech attack. Maka then struck a deal with the imp, he agreed and blocked Giriko's next attack, then he threw Giriko back. The two meisters then readied themselves for a battle.

Crona launched a wave of energy at the golem, stunning it. Maka got in close and sliced with soul, then a strange, invisible webbing came out of the golem's wound. Maka was frozen in place, Crona jumped in front of them and blocked the attack. Both meisters were knocked back into a brick wall.

Maka fell to the ground, her two weapons transformed and tried to figure out why Maka was stunned and covered in strange webbing. The four of them were all looking around in surprise as spiders started to appear out of nowhere. The spiders were all congregating at the golem, and proceeded to cover it, Giriko transformed with a wicked smile on his face. Crona stepped in front of the trio and with his back to them, he declared that he would protect them. Then all the spiders began to take form, the shape of a of the witch Arachne.

Crona began to shiver in fear at the sight of her. Crona then exclaimed in fear of who this witch's wavelength reminded him of, his evil mother medusa. Arachne then mentioned that it was nice to meet the four of them, she was looking forward to it.

she then recounted the argument between the trio last night about who burned dinner, it was soul's fault. She began to explain that she had been watching everything that happened around the world in her absence, through the use of her spiders.

"You too Crona and Marx, Crona the child of my little sister, medusa. She didn't love you at all, did she? Well it's not too late can give you my love. And Marx the boy from another world, you seemed to be a thorn in my sister's side, and you care for Crona as if you were an older sibling, join me." The two of them glared at her in anger, Crona lost his mind and attacked Arachne, she blocked it as if he were nothing.

She then had Giriko attack Crona, the boy was throw a few yards but recovered. Marx felt his fists shake in rage, he powered up and charged at Giriko sending a flurry of kicks and punches his way. The assault of Marx was actually giving Giriko a run for his money, Marx then changed his arm and found a new weapon form an assault rifle with a chainsaw bayonet.

Giriko was surprised by this, the both of them clashed blades to blade, sparks flew everywhere as Giriko increased the speed of his chains, and Marx did the same. Giriko landed a lucky kick and sent Marx flying. Just then Justin law appeared and hit Giriko by surprise, he and Justin then began to fight it out. The two them were evenly matched, Arachne then ordered Giriko to begin their retreat, on that note the two of them fled.

Justin attempted to stop them, but the golem attacked Crona and Justin was forced to intervene. This allowed the witch and her henchman to escape. Justin beat the golem with no help at all. Later on, the five of them discussed how to help Maka, one of them suggested professor Stein due to his medical experience.

-END CHAPTER-

Yep, Marx gained the lancer form from gears. He's going to be the Gears of war 4 custom lancer.


	18. Hunter Marx: Soldier-Spy

Hunter Marx: Soldier-Spy

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Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

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"speech"/ 'thought'

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(Play the Song: God's Gonna Cut You Down by Jonny Cash)

A FEW DAYS AFTER THE BATTLE WITH GIRIKO

Marx had been pulling late night training sessions, his practice runs were giving him a good burn. It was giving him the progress he needed to get even stronger, his power was increasing rapidly.

The barrier he hit before was still there closer, but still out of reach, the lock was proving stubborn to break. He noticed Kid in the library late one night, pouring over the books, searching for something. Marx had thought about a position as a police detective in his former life but, that position was closed to him.

So, he figured maybe he could help kid, and decided to approach him. Marx inquired about what Kid was searching for, and Kid dodged the question. Marx picked up on Kid's evasiveness and pressed for more info. Kid was stubborn, but he knew that he could trust Marx.

If anyone could be trusted it was the loyal death scythe in training, who held a secret of his own very few people knew. The enemy included as well, due to Arachne's reported knowledge of him through the use of her spiders. Kid and Marx discussed eibon and why there was so little available information on him.

Marx contributed mild speculation that if the grim reaper knew this he had reasons for keeping a secret. One hypothesis was that eibon may have lost something and worked with Arachne at one point, in order to get it back. Kid retorted with asking if eibon did that, what could it be that would cause him to do so?

Marx's train of thought crossed another station of ideas, perhaps it was not something he lost, but was desperate to preserve. People will do anything and everything to save someone or something they cared about, eibon was a man at one point, so it was entirely possible that it was of the need of preservation.

The two detectives were hard at work on their case, united in the goal of uncovering a conspiracy. Kid then requested a book from the librarian, one that had been checked out and not returned. The initial on the checkout card gave both of the detectives a shock, the initial was a stylized M. They put two and two together concluding it was Medusa who took the book, but the why remained another part of the mystery.

THE NEXT DAY

They all had gathered at Kid's place, the Trio of Soul, Maka, and Marx, Crona, Kid and the Thompson Sisters, even Black-Star and Tsubaki. They all talked happily about good times they've had, Maka even mentioned how she and soul became partners. Soul had been playing a song on the piano one day and Maka liked his song.

Marx had also been keeping a close eye on Crona from the shadows, it wasn't that he didn't trust his self-proclaimed adopted brother. On the contrary, it was out of the need to keep him from returning to his old ways, if Medusa was really still alive.

Medusa had a hold over Crona even with her supposed death, the boy was still very nervous at the thought of her. Marx held nothing but contempt and bane for her, if she was alive, he wanted her to suffer for her crimes. His desire for vengeance was becoming somewhat cumbersome, and interfered with his other duties and took up more free time.

It didn't feel good to him for keeping this a secret from Maka, but he knew it was for the best. If she knew, it would be taken the wrong way and stopped. He decided though that she'd find out somehow, so he would tell her himself later, not the whole story but enough, the same went for lord death.

The reaper's permission to engage in counter espionage would be invaluable. Marx wanted his revenge, and he knew that even a small amount of vengeance went down as a treat.

He left the party early and told the others he was going for a late-night rooftop run same as usual. They all gave him their goodbyes and his roommates promised they'd see him later. Marx left and hid nearby waiting for Crona to leave, a few minutes later he did. Marx avoided the sights of Crona and Ragnarok, as he followed them stealthily from rooftop to rooftop.

Marx had picked up stealth from Black-Star, he used it with pride and dedication. He kept track of Crona's movements and his short conversation with Ragnarok. Marx spotted a strange child with familiar hair and cloak. The snake shapes of her coattails were revealing of her identity, Medusa.

The voice was a spot-on match, Marx's anger boiled over that she was truly still alive, his rage reached a new level as she coaxed Crona into becoming a spy for her. Marx felt every fiber of his being scream for her blood, but she was holding a young child hostage as her host.

Marx would never hurt a young child, but his mind attempted to rationalize a good spanking. He didn't see that as harm but still refused it. He instead decided with much chagrin, that he would counter Crona's espionage when possible.

His fury was subsided by this idea, it was a way for him to achieve vengeance and protect his self-proclaimed adopted sibling. After the witch left, Marx kept an eye on Crona to see what he did next, the young boy simply returned to his home. And Marx returned to his apartment respectively.

Everything seemed normal as usual the next day, Marx had predicted that Crona would leave the group to speak with medusa or battle with his mind to stop his deeds. He did and everyone saw it, Marx then took his leave as well and made for the school's exit. He used his training as the perfect excuse.

The citizen soldier counter-spy, was going to record his operation in his journal, for now he could not report to his superiors. They would eject Crona from the academy immediately after. The only thing he could do was attempt to track Crona and record his misdeeds and sabotage.

While he still tossed around the idea of open warfare or attempting to appeal to Crona, they remained as last resort options, both had their repercussions. War, that meant allowing his enemies to know he was onto them, therefore eliminating the element of surprise. Appealing to Crona's good heart, it still carried the same result as war, but an added hitch was that, with Crona and Medusa's history it stood little to no chance of success. As much as he detested it, counter espionage was the only viable option.

Marx made for the academy's darker halls where Crona was staying. He spotted Crona and Ragnarok, the two of them were wandering around in places they shouldn't be. Marx then noticed Marie who bumped into them, he was happy that she did, that meant they couldn't cause any trouble there.

Marie led them to their room and she went on her way. Marx followed behind them the whole time unseen. He then approached the door and listened hard. He could hear another voice, one that he hadn't heard before. He then heard medusa's voice. Marx himself came up in their conversation, medusa asked Crona how often Marx was near him, Marx was about think he was caught but, Crona explained that he saw Marx just as often as everyone else.

Marie was then mentioned, and Medusa now had plans for her. Marx witnessed the meeting between Marie and Crona, she had invited him to meet with her at the laboratory that night. Marx knew exactly when to be there to stake it out and he had the perfect hiding place, In plain sight.

He asked professor Stein if he could get a few private lessons that night on field medicine. The professor asked why and Marx replied that it always helped to have a combat medic on the field for support. Professor Stein saw the logic in his argument, and agreed to it. Marx told the professor that he would be waiting at the laboratory until then after school.

The professor agreed and Marx walked to the professor's laboratory. Marx knew that Marie wasn't informed of his presence and decided to keep it that way. He watched Crona and Marie, the two of them were talking and Marie offered Crona some tea, Marie asked what was the matter.

Crona was about to tell the truth, but Ragnarok covered for him by distracting Marie. Marx saw Crona slip something into Marie's tea, he made a mental note of it. Then Crona had a short conversation with her and left. Marx waited until Crona was gone and then he opened a window and made it appear as if he were just arriving.

Marx then explained to a now very surprised Marie, that the professor had offered him a private lesson in field medicine, and he must have forgotten to tell Marie. She was relieved but miffed at stein for forgetting about that. Marx figured if he wasn't here, then he must have forgotten about it himself.

Marie understood and Marx took his leave after a few minutes of waiting during which he slipped his own counter spell into Marie's drink. Marx had figured that there were ways of disrupting Medusa's plans other than simple intelligence gathering, such as asset denial.

He had done some research with kid, on good magic spells that counter poisons and or organic listening devices such as the one Crona had used. Marx was skeptical of it, but it was his only tactical option.

He saw Crona after he left, he was reporting to a tiny frog with the voice from last night, there was a radio next to them. Marx saw his chance and made the spell activate with some unfortunate side effects for Marie. She had to use the rest room, and then the radio exploded, like a hand grenade.

The frog jumped away and Crona was knocked into the wall. Marx now had taken one tactical advantage from Medusa. He'd neutralized her listening device, but he had no counter for the snake's other function, driving the professor mad even faster.

Marx fled as fast as he could back to the apartment for more counter espionage planning. He knew this would be bad for Crona but it was war, there are always casualties in war. He also knew that if they weren't aware of someone being onto them before, they were now.

THE NEXT DAY

Marx and the other students were Being trained by Stein, they were learning the new methods of combat. A group soul resonance was the name of the game, Marx gave it his best shot. All of them were in sync except for Black-Star. Maka had been angry with black-star for his personality being the only thing holding them back. Tsubaki eventually convinced Maka to accept Black-Star for who he is.

-END CHAPTER-


	19. Kid & Marx: Death City Noire

Kid & Marx: Death City Noire

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"speech"/ 'thought'

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(Play the Song: House of the Rising sun by Animals)

Marx wasn't at the lost island to aid the others in battling for brew, instead he had warned the Grim Reaper of a possible information leak. The Reaper asked Marx how he came to know about the information leak, Marx refused to say, explaining that the compartmentalization of information was necessary.

He added that "you never know who is watching". The Reaper understood his reasons for keeping that knowledge to himself, and gave Marx the permission to investigate any and all intelligence matters pertaining to the leak. He relayed that someone in the academy staff may be a double agent in disguise or perhaps an unintentional/unfortunate pawn in the enemy's game.

Needless to say, Maka and Soul weren't happy about it, but they understood Marx had his reasons for doing what he does. If it wasn't important Marx wouldn't worry about it, but he needed to go into the shadows, and shine some light. Marx was eyeing Crona again, and he was also aware of the fact that may be more spies than just Crona within the academy.

If that was true than Marx's work was cut out for him, wars aren't won by brute force on the battlefield alone. Espionage within the shadows plays a major role, in victory. If Marx was going to make any headway Crona would have to slip up, and that could be Marx's ticket to finding more information.

Marx returned to the apartment, Maka had given him permission to use a space on her wall for a suspect board. He had also been given free use of her desk and several other resources he needed for his investigation while she was gone. He code named his work; OPERATION: SNAKE-SKIN.

He also suspected that the frog he saw, was a known witch named Eruka, she was directly involved in Asura's revival and attacked Marx's friends on multiple occasions. He knew that it was under the orders of Medusa herself. If he came across her or perhaps several other known enemies by the name of Mizune and Free who were working with her under medusa's orders, he'd have to either kill or capture them.

He preferred to have his targets around for questioning if the need arose, killing was a last resort when it came to high value targets. They were put on his suspect board, at the top was medusa herself, beneath her were Crona, Eruka, Free, and the group of Mizune.

Marx knew how this operation would go, he had to have complete autonomy in his investigation, until it was over he maintained the motto "Credit is Failure". Marx began scoping out Crona again, he knew that his target would be more careful of his surroundings from now on due to the incident from the other day.

Marx was seeing Crona speak with an unknown small hooded figure. He guessed it to be one of his other suspects, the group of certain mouse themed witches. The tiny figure nodded and took off quickly, Marx chose to follow the figure, as it could lead him to Medusa and where she was hiding.

That kind of information would be invaluable, to Marx and it would give him the chance for vengeance by stealing whatever useful information and items of value like the missing book from the library. The figure made its way down alleys and other small paths to avoid being spotted and remain hidden.

Marx worked hard to keep up and follow the figure to Medusa. Eventually he reached the forest and the figure disappeared. He decided to return to the apartment and record his findings. The intel he collected was a good haul for the time he'd spent following the figure. Marx added his new findings to the board and proceeded to pursue his other suspects.

Next, he was on the lookout for eruka, after searching high and low, Marx came up empty handed and gave up on that lead. He then speculated that perhaps she had been dispatched by Medusa to collect brew, under the cover of heavy fighting between the DWMA and Arachne's organization.

It certainly seemed like that was Medusa's plan. But why steal brew, when she has almost everything she wants, besides the professor? It made Marx annoyed not to have that answer.

"Why does she have to be so damn unpredictable?!" Marx shouted to himself. 'What is that damn witch after? she has almost everything she wants, except the professor. Maybe I should put him on the board too, he is becoming more unstable, now that he's being driven mad.'

'If so the he'll be right under or next to medusa. She's probably going to steal brew if I'm right, and if she does, I'll be the one who figured it out, maybe lord death probably guessed that much already. If she has then one possibility is that she'll use it for amnesty and take professor stein in the process.' Marx sighed and turned his chair around while staring at the board.

'If that witch wasn't so damned crazy, I'd be dancing on her grave by now.' Marx frowned and groaned racking his brain to guess just what Medusa's endgame was and how he'd beat her. Then the idea came into his mind, his spirit world form. 'if I can't find her in this world, the spirit realm is the next best place. Of course, I'd better avoid alarming her, I already bent my sanity once, I won't risk it twice.'

Marx then thought of another possibility. "If I'm right, then my work here won't matter, I'll only be confirming Death's suspicions. Maybe that was the point of all my hard work." He then tried to make up his mind on what his next move was. "The only option I've got besides that is, reporting in to lord death."

Marx sighed again and locked the windows and doors, taking his spare key with him. And setting several alarms and traps for any unwanted guests. Soul and Maka had nothing to fear, they had already been acquainted with Marx's brand of security measures. He'd also made sure to spray for insects and arachnids, just in case.

With all his preparations made Marx powered up and flew to the academy to save some time. Once he made it to the academy steps he powered down and made his way inside. He walked briskly to the death room to give his intelligence report to lord death. The Grim reaper probably wouldn't be surprised.

THE DEATH ROOM

"Hiya, hello, how's it going Marx." The bombastic grim reaper asked.

"Just fine sir, I came to give my report on several leads, intel and evidence from my investigation so far." Marx replied.

"Let's hear it then." Said the Reaper

"First off, I've spotted one of the mizune in death city, wearing a small wrapped cloak, the suspect then fled the city and I gave chase. The suspect then made her way into the woods, where I lost her."

"I suspected as much, they are a tight knit group, what would one of them be doing here alone?"

"I've tried to guess that, the suspect was relaying information they've collected to Medusa, who is in fact still alive. Upon further investigation, I've discovered that medusa may be planning to steal brew from under our noses, or she's probably already done it. If that's so then she'll probably offer it up for amnesty in exchange."

"We'll have to wait and see on that now, won't we. She's probably doing it as we speak. You've done a good job so far Marx, keep it up, there may yet bet more investigating to be done."

Just then Maka reported in stating the situation after the battle for brew and their suspicions were confirmed. Brew had been lost to arachnophobia supposedly.

"Marx keep this information to yourself, since we don't know medusa's exact location I'm afraid we won't be able to recover the real brew until she either gives it to us like you hypothesized or when we're done dealing with arachnophobia."

"I understand sir, what should I tell the others about this?"

"Try to keep them in the dark until we don't need to keep it from them."

"Yes sir."

THE NEXT MORNING

Some of the students who went to the battle on lost island were telling their stories about it. Maka and Soul were wondering about the technique Maka had used during the fight against mosquito. Marx tried to comfort them with the fact that they were at war, and that it had only just begun.

"Maka, Soul, you two did your best that's all anyone can ask of you. It's war, that means this has only just begun. You two have to have faith that in the end we will win. We have something they don't, we have a cause worth fighting for."

Marx then explained to the two of them that he had more investigating to do, lying wasn't his strong suit, but it worked and they let him go. Marx had noticed Kid left in order to continue his own investigation into the matter of what his father was hiding. Marx had decided that it was time for him to help his detective partner out in that respect again. He then caught up with kid.

"Marx what are you doing out of class?"

"I came out here to help my detective partner."

"This is my business, you don't have to get involved."

"Oh, yes I do you're my friend and we've both got a mystery to solve. I know I can trust you, so in exchange I'll tell you what I can about my own investigation. Deal?"

"Deal." Kid said satisfied with Marx's offer and trust.

The two of them proceeded to work together on their case again, the DWMA conspiracy. Kid asked what Marx could offer and he replied that he informed kid's father of the suspected turncoats and or unwilling pawns in the enemy's game.

When Kid asked for further information, Marx replied that it was especially classified info on a need to know basis. Kid tried to force it out of him but Marx stated that it would do more harm than good at this point, but it didn't mean that it wouldn't be taken care of.

When Kid asked him to elaborate on the subject, Marx said that he had his ways and they'd pay for their crimes. Kid sighed with exasperation but supposed that it was enough information for Marx to part with. Kid and Marx eventually reached professor stein's laboratory.

"Why are we here? I know we need leads, but the professor isn't exactly in the best of mental states right now." Marx said confused at his partner's choice in leads.

"The professor may have key information that my father isn't willing to part with. Suffice it to say, he's the best lead we have right now."

"If you're sure Kid, but I still have a bad feeling about this." Marx said slightly worried by the now foreboding nature of his 2nd favorite teacher.

INSIDE PROFESSOR STEIN'S HOME

The professor had become even more grim recently, his eyes were shifty and he let out small unnerving chuckles at random. His cool nature that he possessed, when he first started teaching was gone. Marx was uncomfortable around the professor now to say the least, Kid was stoic as usual.

They approached the professor and began to attempt to speak with the babbling teacher. Professor stein looked at them for a brief moment and went back to his madness.

"Professor Stein are you feeling okay?" Kid asked.

"Feeling okay? Of course, why wouldn't I be, although I guess saying it doesn't guarantee that everyone will believe me, doesn't it?" Stein replied eerily.

'The professor's madder than a march hare.' Marx thought to himself sweat dropping.

"I want to know something. What exactly does brew do can you tell me?" kid asked firmly.

"You already know that brew is one of eibon's magic tools. He was an inventor and created many impressive devices in his time, but brew was the most powerful one of them all. Ture to its name, the tool's magic possesses all the strength and danger of a thunderstorm, the results of its use can vary greatly depending on the person who wields it." the professor answered.

"Could you be more specific?! I want to know what the tool actually does!" kid said with irritation in his voice. Marx contemplated calming down his partner but let it slide not wanting to miss the professor's explanation.

"Tell me this then, what does my father want to do with brew? What will the results be if he's the one that uses it? if you aren't sure than you could speculate. as a professor, you must have a guess." Kid asked inquisitively, now calming down.

"What will you do with the information? I can see that you two are impatient for answers, but nothing I tell you will be of any use in the long run, I promise you that much. Besides, could you fully accept that what I say in this condition, might not be a good Idea." Stein answered eerily.

"Well I don't know." Kid replied.

"I'm sure you're both willing to listen to my answers that's the easy part. But then what comes after that, what do you intend to do when you know all I have to tell?" the professor answered and asked.

"Right now, it doesn't matter what I want, I can't ignore something just because I don't want to see it." kid stated flatly.

"You can't turn a blind eye not even for your own father?" the professor countered.

"I can't make exceptions, anyone who strays from the right path must be stopped." Kid replied.

"But who decides which path is the right one, and how do you recognize when someone has strayed from it?" the professor countered again.

"It's simple, the truth is easy to see when you know right from wrong." Kid answered coolly.

"What he said." Marx added.

"Well is it really, you two are quite naïve, aren't you?" stein said eerily.

"About What?" kid asked

"Let me ask you this, where does this knowledge come from, this ability to know right from wrong? There is no inherent good and evil in the world, those labels are just artificial constructs. Right and wrong are determined by people who hold positions of power. That's the way it's always been so how then can anyone know this truth you speak of? Don't you see the reality is that truth long ago became nothing more than a shadow of itself, a mere echo of the past now." The professor said presenting his twisted view.

"You're wrong." Kid said angrily.

"Idealistic boys, the world is one big moral gray area, it just makes you feel safer to believe that it's carefully categorized into good and bad, that's not actually how it works." The professor rambled.

"You're wrong." Kid said with even more anger.

"On several counts doc, you know my story, so you know that I believe in having faith in the world. It's Based on balance. There will always be crooks and killers, and there will always be people like us who fight for something worth fighting for, justice. Life is a never-ending war, and I for one refuse to lose." Marx proudly countered the professor with his philosophy.

"Why are you boys so determined about this?" The Professor asked with a depressed tone.

"Why are you still refusing to answer any of the questions? What information are you so desperate to keep hidden?" Kid said letting his frustration show.

Just then, Marie walked into the room.

"Oh, hi kids, what's going on here?" Marie said surprised at the two boys interrogating the professor.

"Say you're right, doesn't that make the academy the authority that determines what right and wrong are?" Kid said calmly.

"Is that truly how you think it works? I'm afraid I must disagree with you completely, things at the academy aren't always as black and white as you'd like to believe they are." The Professor said taking out and lighting a cigarette.

"Doc, we're only human." Marx countered.

THE NEXT DAY

Kid and Marx were still searching for leads when kid found out about a specialist from the tech division had made his way to the city. Marx was on board to ride the train with kid until the end of the line. Kid was grateful for Marx's loyalty, Marx said that it was the code of a detective to stick by his partner. The two of them eventually found the specialist and confronted him on his reasons for being there.

"What's a consultant from the tech division doing at the academy?"

"News travels fast around here, doesn't it? Just got in and already the questions have started. So, whose that make you, the welcome wagon?"

"Death the kid actually, I was named after my father. And my friend, is Hunter Marx the death scythe in training."

"I see, so you're lord death's little son aren't you."

"What brings you to the academy? You've come a long way. What role do you have to play in my dad's plans?"

"Construction, the plumbing here at the academy is old and it's in pretty bad shape. That's why I'm here."

"Not even a good lie. You'll have to do better than that, you wouldn't have come all this way for grunt work."

"Well uh, of course, that isn't the only reason, the boiler needs some work done on it too. Now that's a job for the tech division too."

"It might be if the academy had a boiler. In these past few months the academy has spent all its efforts on collecting magic tools, and then out of nowhere a technology expert just happens to show up. So, you'll excuse me if I think there's something more to this than our pipes."

"If these magic tools are as rusty as my poker face, I'm going to have my work cut out for me."

"Come back we're not done talking!"

"Here's some free advice, let it go. I'm here to do some work, that's all you need to know. So, tell me, how's uncle bob doing?"

"Uncle bob?"

"The man who runs the coffee shop not far from here."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"That's a crying shame."

The man then disappears and leaves Kid and Marx stumped on their next move with Kid being the one who has a clue.

"That was confusing, he's not going to tell us anything. So, have you got any more leads Kid?

"Maybe, but for now we'll keep on looking for more answers, that hopefully don't give us more questions."

With that said the two boys made their way back to class and were greeted by Liz and Patty. The rest of their friends inquired about where they had been, kid and Marx simply stated that they had a few things to look into and Kid had allowed Marx to accompany him. Kid and Marx both knew that it was better that the others didn't know until later.

Black-Star appeared and asked Kid to follow him outside, he challenged Kid to a fight by breaking one of the academy's cones.

-END CHAPTER-


	20. Rising Storm

Rising Storm

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

Now Black-Star had done it, he'd made kid pissed off. The two of them were going to fight. Sid appeared and would act as the referee for their match.

Black-Star had his ass handed to him by the same opponent more than once and he'd lost multiple times to a few different opponents. He couldn't handle losing, he'd dreamed of surpassing god. Maka objected to it, but Tsubaki stopped her.

Marx watched the two of them fight, Black-Star refused to use his hands at the beginning of the fight. Then he sucker-punched Kid, but his wavelength was distorted. It was weak and his soul attack failed. Sid explained Black-Star's reasoning for his weakness, loss of confidence. Kid explained Black-Star's weakness. The battle became brutal as the two of used heavy strikes.

Marx left but not before shouting something to Black-Star. "I refuse to watch you fight like this. The reason we became friends in the first place, is because you fought with heart. Your heart isn't in this fight, tell me when it is again. And I'll fight you myself, you only want to win now. When the old you makes a comeback, tell him I'm waiting."

"Get back here Marx! I want you to see me win!" Black-Star shouted angrily.

"Not. Like. This!" Marx shouted back. He turned and walked away, not bothering to watch Kid beatdown Black-Star.

LATER THAT NIGHT

Marx stealthily made his way to Crona's room avoiding any other academy personnel. He knew his adopted little brother was hurting. Marx wanted to help him, but didn't know how, his vengeance on Medusa would be all that much sweeter. He made it to the door and listened, he heard the frog again and Ragnarok convincing Crona to leave because of the severity of the punishments he'd receive.

Marx's blood boiled again, the little imp and the wicked witch were going too far. Marx had been stripped of his brother once, it would not happen again. That night, Marx revealed himself to medusa by astral projecting from the spirit world.

"Medusa, you tortured my adopted brother, attacked my friends' numerous times, released a nightmare of horrifying proportions and think 'you' can get away with it?!" Marx Yelled furiously.

"Oh pretty much, yes." Replied medusa in a calm sadistic tone.

"I will make you long for something as sweet as pain Medusa." Marx's tone was calm and filled with venom.

"If you're so eager to die, then why not reveal yourself, Marx?"

"Because, I want to enjoy **punishing** you for what you've done to me and my new family."

Marx's voice begins to echo around the dark cavern like room that is Medusa's lair.

"Sic vis pacem, para bellum." The echo repeated growing louder until moments later it stopped, silence was the only sound in the room.

"Ah, Latin, if you want peace prepare for war." Medusa replied dryly.

There was no response.

'Very well then, I'll play your game, Marx' medusa thought with a sadistic grin forming on her face.

THE NEXT DAY

Marx was enjoying a picnic with the gang, he had even been hanging around Crona a little more, giving him the belief that if he needed to say something he was always ready to listen. After a few minutes Tsubaki mentioned that the food was a present from Ms. Marie. At the mention of her, Crona got up and ran into the woods.

Marx could feel medusa's presence on the wind. Everyone had wondered why he did that, except for Marx who it knew it was Medusa playing with Crona's mind. He knew Crona was going to leave, he'd follow Crona to Medusa's lair when he got the chance. Tracking Crona was easy, finding his cold bitch of a mother was hard.

Later on, Maka gave chase and followed Crona herself. Crona decided not to return to medusa at all, Ragnarok didn't like that one bit. Marx had followed Crona from a distance and was proud Crona was refusing Medusa.

But Marx understood why, and he would confront Crona on this himself when the time came. Crona fell into a hole after Ragnarok kept hitting him. Eventually the imp retreated into Crona to beat the heat. Marx saw Maka and Soul roll up on their bike, he saw Maka try to snap Crona out of it.

it was a touching moment to say the least. Marx made up his mind, and walked down from his vantage point to meet with his friends. Soul was surprised and were Maka and Crona. Marx explained that he was about to do exactly what Maka did. He also revealed that he couldn't be prouder of Crona for being repentant of his sins.

He smiled and hugged Crona, brotherly love from Marx was something Crona had never felt before, it was just as good as friendship with Maka. After telling the truth to the reaper, Crona was going to be expelled. Maka, Soul, and Marx all pleaded with him about giving Crona a second chance, just as a decision would be made Sid ran into the room winded.

He then revealed that he had urgent news, the reaper asked what it was. Sid replied that Medusa was back in the city. Marx nodded to the reaper, they knew exactly why she was here. She was surrendering, Marx wanted his vengeance more than ever, it was within his grasp she was being held in a prison cell every fiber of his being screamed at him to kill her. But he still believed in orders, not disobeying them.

Maka was at Medusa's cell ranting at her. Marx put a hand on Maka's shoulder and asked her to let him do some talking, she reluctantly agreed.

"Well it looks like the snake slithered out of the hole. You know I think I really enjoy seeing you like this. I have a feeling you'll slither out of this somehow. But that doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed our little game. Asset denial is such a fun thing for me, I liked watching you squirm." Marx said with a grin.

"If you're attempting to get under my skin, you aren't doing a very good job." Medusa countered

"The fact that you acknowledged me proves you wrong. You told me yourself, I've been a constant thorn in your side. Even your sister acknowledged that fact, and she was watching the whole time. Face the facts, I'm in your head bruja. And you have lost the game." Marx said coolly.

"Oh, have I now? You don't have any idea what my next move is. The game is still on, and I will be the winner tin soldier." She said with a grin.

Soul was the one to make them all leave. Marx admitted to the two of them about everything, he'd known Crona was doing Medusa's bidding for some time. He'd kept it to himself in order to protect him, and see if Crona was able to break medusa's hold over himself on his own. Maka chopped him for it, Soul understood, but still laughed at his friend's dilemma.

Maka calmed down eventually, and she forgave Marx because she understood, that he did everything he could to attempt to help Crona from the shadows, by mitigating the damage he caused, or even preventing it when he was able. He even stuck it to Medusa, several times, through asset denial. This made Maka crack a small smile knowing that Marx gave the witch a little payback at least.

They were all shocked to see she was being let go. But they all agreed revenge will come. Marx narrowed his eyes in hatred when she made Crona shiver.

'I swear if it's the last thing I ever do, I will put the fear of god into her. I swear, I will put my pain into her soul for everything she's done to him, and everyone else.' Marx thought with a mountain of malice.

He saw Maka glare at the witch and shared her feelings of anger. Later on, professor Stein was reported missing. Marx knew exactly why, medusa had brainwashed Stein into following her, like a dog on a leash. Soul had joined Black-Star and Tsubaki, the two of them asked where Maka and Marx were and Soul told them they went to see Crona.

In the academy's prison block, Maka and Marx were trying to console Crona through the steel door. Crona was worried about Professor Stein, he was the one who sped up his madness. They all had reason to believe that Medusa was behind it. Maka tried to get Crona to believe stein could come back himself.

Marx decided himself, it wasn't his first mission that didn't officially exist. He'd hunt down and kill the witch. plausible deniability, nobody needed to know where he was or what he did. If he needed an excuse, he was out training for stealth. But he thought about involving his partners, they wanted and deserved their revenge on the witch. He went back to the apartment with them and soul found a card.

The card was for Maka, it was from her mother. Soul slid it under her door and she read it. Marx and soul were happy that she cheered up at the sight of the postcard. She sat with Blair the cat talking about her mother. Marx saw the two of them looking closely at the card trying to read an inscription.

"That's Arabic, as for what it says, I'm afraid I can't translate it. That looks like it came from the middle east." Marx said to Maka with a smile.

"That's okay. Thanks for at least giving me an Idea of what language it is, and where it came from.

"No problem, at least you know what to look up later so you can figure it out for yourself. I'm heading out Maka I need to take care of some business. Don't ask what, I need to do something important. You know me, I wouldn't do it, if it didn't matter. You, Blair, and Soul take care, I'll be back later, but don't wait up." Marx said making his way to the door, a minute later and he was gone. Just then, the doorbell rang. It was Tsubaki and Black-Star.

Marx made his to professor stein's lab, he was going to need all the help he could get. And Marie was probably more than willing to help get the professor back, and put down the sadistic witch. With her help things would be much easier. Reinforcements are always a valuable asset on the battlefield.

She brought Marx with her to see the Reaper, she wanted to speak with Crona and allowed Marx to accompany her. She told Crona that she didn't want to hear it now, later but not now. The next morning the DWMA made preparations to go to war with arachnophobia.

Marx was promoted to official death scythe and would assist Crona and Marie, he'd operate under the pretense of a stealth mission. Rather than frontline combat, until the first phase of the mission was over. After that he'd meet up with Maka and the rest of the gang, to face down Asura once and for all.

He was given a brand new black version of his combat gear. Complete with a skull balaclava and other various combat and stealth accessories. The mission was titled by himself OPERATION: ENDWAR. He along with Marie and Crona were in the desert making their way to medusa's lair to hunt her down.

Crona turned back to look at the city, he thought to himself about what he'd done, and felt sorry for Maka and the others about it, he thought with determination that he'd atone for his mistakes. Marx placed a hand on his shoulder, and promised that he'd always be there for him. Crona appreciated it, and they all made their way into the desert together.

Eventually they reached a swamp, this was the location of medusa's lair. Marx had been waiting for this, he'd finally be free of his desire for revenge, and payback the witch for all the misery she's caused. The swamp was filled with misleading signs and terrors. Marx and Crona were unfazed by them, but Marie was a bit shaken up by them. Crona started pointing the right way and they entered the lair of the witch.

A large stone cube fell from the roof, and Crona attempted to save Marie. Marx was given a newfound strength from his ascension to a true death scythe, and caught the stone cube with both hands. Crona's soul acted as a shield and cracked the bottom of cube in Marx's hands. Marx used his extreme amount of strength and threw the large block away.

Medusa was cackling nearby, she had been waiting for them. The professor wasn't too far away from her. She had expected more from Crona, her own child.

-END CHAPTER-

Tom Clancy reference!


	21. Operation: Endwar

OPERATION: ENDWAR

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos. Imagine Marx sounds like Buck from HALO 3 ODST/HALO REACH/HALO 5. For anyone who isn't a halo fan look him up.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

"You hurt my feelings, why are you looking at me like that Crona?" Medusa said with false innocence.

"He's here to kill you, Bruja." Marx said with a cold and serious tone. "Sorry to steal your thunder little brother but, I have a little something I need to say to her."

"Oh, and just what is that?" Medusa said curiously.

"Cut the innocent mother B.S. for one. Do you read the bible? It wouldn't surprise me if you didn't." Marx asked coolly.

"No, but go on." Medusa replied curtly in an unamused tone, with her eyes narrowed.

"Well there's this certain passage I've memorized that fits the occasion. Ezekiel 25:17, The path of the righteous man, is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil." Marx said gesturing to himself, the witch and mad professor.

"Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds others through the valley of darkness." Marx paused to take a breath, while gesturing to his compatriots.

"For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children, and I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance, and furious anger, those who attempt to poison, and destroy my brothers! And you will know my name is the lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee!" Marx said his voice rising in anger each word, never breaking eye contact with medusa, not for even a second.

For the briefest moment, the mighty and terrible witch Medusa Gorgon, was intimidated. She felt fear at the back of her mind, normally she rarely ever, felt fear whatsoever, unless in the Reaper's presence. Her eyes flickered briefly in fear, before return to their narrowed state.

"I made a deal with the academy, you can't touch me!" she said grinning evilly.

"EH, Wrong! You see she quit (gesturing to Marie), he's in exile (gestures to Crona), and technically I was never here. So that means…." Marx replied

"That's right medusa, so that little deal you made, doesn't apply to us!" Marie said angrily.

"I will stop you Medusa." Crona said with fierce determination.

"So, what's it going to be? Will you give back stein, or does this get messy? Personally, I don't care how you die. If Stein comes back to world of sanity and to us, it won't be by my hand. Despite how much I want you dead, I came here to cheer on my adopted brother Crona, and rescue my 2nd favorite teacher." Marx said coolly while medusa glared at him seething with anger.

"How are you going to do that? I'm using this little girl's body, if you try to kill me, she goes with me. And besides, Stein doesn't want to come back. He came here of his own free will." She said coolly while snuggling next to Professor Stein.

"Oh, about that first and second part, yeah we thought it through. Don't want to spoil the surprise now. Or do you already know? I take it you don't, otherwise you'd be slightly more careful with your words." Marx stated matter-of-factly. "Besides, who said we can't give you a good spanking. We can't hurt you, doesn't mean we can't punish you."

"Then let's begin, shall we."

Marx let out a war-cry as he charged forward dodging medusa's vector arrows. Medusa avoided all of Marx's rapid strikes and grab attempts. The professor jumped in, and began his mad assault on Marx babbling all the while. Marx and Stein were evenly matched, due to Marx holding back to not kill the man he came to rescue.

Marie went after medusa swinging her weapon fists at the witch all the while. Crona was deciding who to help, his brother battling the mad man, or the teacher trying to kill the witch. Ragnarok was annoyed by Crona's indecisiveness, he groaned at Crona to hurry up and choose.

Crona decided to help Marx first in subduing Stein. Marx was grateful to have Crona's aid as the two of them slashed and shot at stein. The mad professor dodged each shot and slash with grace and lunacy. Crona used his scream attack on the professor stunning him Marx seized the opportunity and moved in to hold down and handcuff the professor.

But it was a deception, as Stein swung around and hit Marx in chest, faking being dazed the whole time. Stein's hit was followed up by a soul wave attack, that sent Marx into a wall. The wall was badly cracked by Marx's impact. Stein charged in madly for the kill. Marx narrowly avoided stein's punch and countered with his own heavy uppercut.

Marx continued his retaliation on stein with a series of core jabs, finishing up with a strong roundhouse to the gut. The professor was knocked back a few feet by the hit and began erratically dodging Marx's continued assault.

"Crona, I've got this, help Marie!" Marx shouted.

"But brother!" Crona shouted back.

"No buts, I'll take care of Stein." Marx said while blocking a palm strike from Stein.

"Less work for us!" said Ragnarok.

With that said Crona went to help out Marie, while Stein and Marx, brawled like there was no tomorrow. Crona began distracting Medusa, and Marie disappeared for a short time. Crona was losing to medusa, she ensnared him with her vector arrows. The two of them debated their personal history and Crona's loyalty.

Crona refused to return to Medusa and she decided they had talked about long enough. She grinned sadistically preparing to kill Crona. Marie attempted to intervene, but Medusa threw her away. Marx saw this and immediately made a run to save his brother, Stein was mad but not blind.

The mad professor used his opportunity to slam the charging hero into another wall. Stein made his way to Marie and began to battle her while babbling nonsense all the while. Medusa agreed with Stein about their new world order requiring the deaths of their opponents.

Medusa formed a blade with her vector arrows and swung it at Crona sending him flying, Marx was stampeding towards Medusa the second he saw it. she then sent bolts of red electricity at Crona, she then began to explain that she used her soul wavelength to neutralize the black blood's capabilities.

Meaning that Crona was defenseless. Medusa then raised her blade for the killing blow, Crona screamed in fear. Marx gave a war-cry as he charged for Crona to take the hit. As if by a miracle, Maka appeared and used soul to block Medusa's strike. Maka was angry, and that was an understatement.

"Damn, am I glad to see you two!" Marx said relieved to see his partners come to the rescue.

"Same here buddy, we were wondering where you disappeared to." Said Soul happy to see his comrade in arms.

"Less talk, more action!" Maka said, glaring at Medusa as she pushed the witch back with soul's blade.

Medusa then jumped back away from the scythe meister. Marie then warned Maka about the innocent girl that medusa was possessing. If they hurt Medusa they hurt the girl too. Medusa then mentioned the deal between her and the academy. Maka charged at the witch shouting that she didn't give a damn.

The witch avoided Maka's attacks once more and regrouped with professor Stein. Maka and Soul made a plan to resonate with their allies, they synced up their wavelengths and began to resonate with each other Marx swapped out his arms for guns, thirsty for a real fight. Once they were all in sync, Maka charged at Medusa and clashed with Stein.

She tried to reason with stein, but he retaliated and grabbed Maka by the throat and threw her. Crona jumped in and helped to cushion the blow for Maka. The two of them were in a small crater made by the impact. Marx laid down a barrage of fire at the professor shooting to disable him and relying on non-lethal tactics. Marx was getting annoyed at the fact that he couldn't cut loose on the professor, otherwise he'd kill him.

At one point, they managed to corner the professor and attempted to let Marie use her abilities to snap Stein out of his madness. Stein blocked the attack and painfully sent Marie falling back on the ground he then knocked Maka and Crona into a wall stunning them. Marx then clashed with stein.

The two of them were in a grappling match, neither gaining ground on the other. Maka tried to reason with Stein, but he only twisted his bolt, and shrugged off her pleas. Above Maka and Crona stood Medusa, who was preparing to kill Maka. She stabbed her blade into the ground, and it seemed to slither around the pillar on which she stood.

The arrow reached the bottom and left the wall giving it the appearance of a snake, coiling up to kill its prey. Crona saw this and pushed Maka out of the way, taking the stab and bleeding badly. He had been run through, Marx and Maka were shocked to see this. Maka screamed Crona's name and Marx glowed red in anger.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Marx screamed in rage, the discharge of raw power knocked stein away from Marx, into a wall. Marx charged at medusa his mind fading to black. Almost as if he had gone feral, it was like watching an angry lion swipe at a running animal.

"You killed him! You killed my brother! RAAAAAAAARGH!" Maka was in a similar state as the two of them, slashed and swung wildly at the witch. "I'm going to rip you in half! DO YOU HEAR ME!" Marx shouted in blind unrestrained fury.

Medusa smiled wickedly, enjoying the suffering and torment of her foe. Marie struck Marx on his head knocking him down and bringing sense back to him, she then got in between Maka and stein. Marie used her healing wavelength to snap Maka and stein out their madness. After a small touching moment of peace… medusa attacked out of spite. Maka was the first to react and blocked medusa's vector arrows.

Stein was back on the right side of the sanity line, he put on his glasses, Marie transformed and the two of them readied up for a fight. Marx had recovered and was more than glad to see the return of Stein. Marx transformed and took his usual spot on Maka's back.

The professor reassured the students that Crona was still alive, and that their friend won't die on his watch. The teams then linked their resonance, and made their plan for Stein to distract Medusa while Maka prepares to use genie hunter. Stein and Medusa battled it out, putting on a good show for the witch.

Maka charged in declaring she would show no mercy, and hit medusa with the genie hunter. And after a brief moment the witch was forced out of her host and began to disintegrate. Stein mockingly asked the witch how it felt to lose, and she had no response other than an angry scream at her demise.

"Well I can do my victory dance now." Marx transformed, then did a victory dance he saw in a movie that he liked while singing the marine corps cadence 'Everywhere we go'.

"Ha, that's a good one!" Soul chuckled hysterically.

Maka smiled at both of her partners' antics. After all the victory dance was over, Stein examined Crona, and gave the group good news that he would live. Maka showed stein the postcard from her mother and he told her its meaning, bravery.

After that, Stein and Marie told the trio that they'd be heading back to the academy, to get Crona and the little girl proper medical attention, and file their reports. Stein asked Maka what she and her weapons were going to do next. Maka replied that they were going after the kishin, Stein expected that and informed them that Maka's anti-madness wavelength is the only chance they all have for victory as long as Lord death is bound to Death City. The trio showed their fierce determination and were ready to finish the fight.

A SHORT TIME LATER

After exiting Medusa's now abandoned lair, the trio found themselves standing on a cliff overlooking the battlefield and what arachnophobia was doing to its own forces, as well as the DWMA's. They were using their super weapon indiscriminately; a laser of compressed madness being fired in a 360-degree arc.

At first all three students were disgusted by this, watching their hated enemy do whatever it took to win, including killing their own people. Then out of nowhere, a shot rang out from the distance and the madness laser exploded in a great ball of fire. Then the sound of giant footsteps began to grow louder and a large shadow appeared on the horizon. A giant robot in the shape of Death City.

All three students sweat dropped at the sight of it, and Maka was the first ask what the hell it was, to no one in particular. Then as if in response to Death City's new giant war machine, the enemy spider shaped fortress ripped loose from its support towers and began moving on its own.

The two titanic war machines began a mechanized battle of epic proportions. Death city's giant stature gave it the edge in size towering over its smaller, nimbler opponent. The spider fort dodged the giant mechanical hands with ease, irritating the Reaper to no end. The walking city the chopped at the ground where the spider fort stood, it was a miss. The spider fort dodged to the right attempting to avoid the chop.

After the chop missed its intended target the reaper made the city's arm swing right across the ground plowing through the dense forest in its wake. Then the spider fort stopped short of being hit by a reversal from the reaper's other arm, and retaliated with burning the giant hand using hot steam from the spider fort's legs. The reaper felt the pain from that attack, and recovered grabbing the spider fort's legs.

The spider fort fired lasers from the eye ports on its head and tried to burn the Reaper into letting go. Instead, the Reaper retaliated with an eye gouge using his giant mechanical fingers. The laser eyes were destroyed in a matter of seconds. The spider fort lost power and an explosion erupted from its head module.

Then the reaper got his hands under the spider fort and flipped over on its back, immobilizing it. After a brief moment, the spider fort recovered and attacked using spider it shot from the head module. The web then let loose an electric discharge shocking the city's systems. In response, the Reaper sliced the webbing and grabbed it like a rope, and swung a giant finger into the spider fort, the finger reached Aracnhe's chamber and grabbed asura.

After capturing the HVT, a mouth of sorts formed on the city's exterior and ate asura. The Reaper sent asura hurtling into the death room. Outside, the trio kept moving towards the spider fort focusing on their other target, Arachne.

IN THE DEATH ROOM

The two extremely powerful beings battled in a struggle of good vs evil, order vs chaos, The Grim Reaper wielding a death scythe vs the kishin Asura. Both fighters were even matched at the start of their fight with the reaper absorbing asura's energy blast. The reaper retaliated by slashing at asura with Death Scythe.

It appeared that victory was assured with Death having the home field advantage and slicing Asura in half. But it was only a ruse, the real Asura attacked from above with a directed force shield intending to literally crush the reaper. The grim responded with his own shield, attempting to push back Asura.

The two of them struggled with neither side backing down, Asura then attacked preemptively using an energy blast. Death was still standing unfazed by blast, and continued to slash at Asura. Asura decided to talk for a moment revealing what went through his mind during his stay in the catacombs. Death didn't care and grabbed his opponent by the neck and slammed him into the ground. Asura rose up from the crater, and continued to share his demented view, death was tired of talking and prepared to use the kishin hunter on Asura.

He attacked and swung at the man shaped monster with all his might. The two of them struggled for dominance in the battle of power, death won the battle of strength and the kishin was propelled backwards. Death had sliced off one of Asura's arms and in a few seconds, it had grown back.

Death continued to beatdown Asura and the banter only drawled on. Asura launched another stream of energy blasts, wearing down Death. Asura then threatened the life of death's son, and attacked them with a large energy blast. The grim reaper had barely any time to react and took the full force of the attack, saving Azusa, Kid, and his partner's lives.

The reaper laid there, motionless on the floor, Asura had seemingly defeated Death. Kid mourned his father, Asura explained the reasoning for his victory and Excalibur countered with his own opinion. Asura fell victim to his own twisted logic and suffered a large amount of pain, remembering Arachne's care for him.

Asura fled from the death room, back to the spider fortress, and he killed Arachne in cold blood, consuming her soul shortly afterwards. The terrifying power asura already possessed, increased exponentially with his devouring of the soul of Arachne. The central tower of the spider-fortress exploded from asura's discharge of raw mad power.

A large barrier began to form around the central, spire and time was running short to defeat the ultimate evil before he would enter dormancy, using his madness to conquer the world, without lifting a finger. Kid took his chance to charge into the barrier with his faithful weapons, taking his wounded father's place on the battlefield.

Black-Star charged into the dome from below as fast as his legs could carry, his entrance successful. Maka and her partners dove in from above into what would be the hardest battle they've ever fought. Maka's partners were ready for war, and Maka herself was ready to end it. victory is the only option.

The three teams were all together again, united they stood, proud and calm. They all readied themselves, kid transformed his arm into death cannons, Black-Star engaged Tsubaki's enchanted sword mode, and Maka prepared her genie hunter. Together they were near unstoppable, friends until the end.

They were all a little surprised by their enemy's new form, the massive increase in size making him appear menacing. But nonetheless, they were all focused on the goal they shared unflinching at the power of asura, the embodiment of pure madness itself. The giant monster taunted his adversaries.

The three of them synchronized their souls and bravely charged at the kishin. Attacking form three directions at once, they delivered heavy amounts of damage. The attacks they used had some small effect on him from thee thinning appearance of the barrier above them.

Soul continued playing his song and boosting the abilities of his comrades, it was beginning to reach its end. As they fought and fought, strike after strike, the worst possible of all circumstances had come into play at that moment, soul was stricken with madness. Just as Maka was about to use her genie hunter it failed and she dropped to the floor.

Soul lay on the ground unconscious, Marx transformed and leapt from his meister's back. Maka tried to wake up soul, while the others wondered as to how he ended up unconscious. The kishin cackled and began to taunt them wildly, showing them horrific visions and nightmarish visages as he explained their plight.

Black-Star had enough, and shattered the illusion with nothing but a swift soul strike. Marx and kid were impressed by their compatriot's display of will power in the face of uncertainty. Kid, Black-Star and Marx resumed their assault, all of them at a disadvantage without Soul to synchronize them.

Marx was avoiding unleashing his full might in order to save his strength for when Maka and soul would need him most. The kishin simply toyed with them not even considering them a threat. Her friends all promised Maka that they'd hold off the monster as long they can until she retrieved soul.

The brave team of heroes all stood their ground, not giving an inch of it to their mighty maniacal foe. Kid unleashed a barrage of death cannon blasts, only seeming to slightly bother the kishin, the monster lazily yawned as the young heroes keep fighting. Then suddenly, their foe stuck his palm and let loose a massive concussive blast that sent all of the heroes falling backwards and tumbling to ground.

Kid stood up and resonated with his weapons, he then asked his compatriots for support, to buy him as time as they could until his death cannon was at max charge. Marx was more than happy to lend his support to young reaper, he gave a thumbs-up of pride. Black-Star was eager to help after wording the request slightly differently.

As kid charged his full power Death Cannon, the kishin saw the lines of Sanzu connecting across Kid's head, he remembered Kid's Identity and planned dealing with Kid the same way he dealt with kid's father, a powerful energy blast. Black-Star and Marx gave the kishin a mighty double-uppercut knocking out a few teeth.

The monster tried to swat them away but they simply dodged their enemy's slow movements with ease. Black-Star struck with his soul wave attack, and continued to deal as large amount of attacks with after images. Marx let loose his own energy blasts through the use his hands realizing he didn't even have to transform his arms anymore to use his power.

He let loose his sturm blast beam, the attack made a direct hit on the kishin. The beast was angered and unleashed a flurry of strikes with his extra limbs of cloth. He destroyed of Black-Star's afterimages, thinking he'd eliminated one pest, but Black-Star seized the opportunity and surprised the kishin with a powerful slash.

The monster was knocked down and bleeding black blood, Marx and Black-Star gave kid the signal to cut loose. With that said, kid finished his charge and unleashed his full power at the kishin all in one shot. The blast was massive, doing the damage equivalent to a low yield nuclear blast, and a small plume that followed.

Kid was drained and fell to the ground, the others wondered what happened except for Marx who explained that kid as just tired out from using that much power in one shot. The kishin began to regenerate, and took a smaller nimbler form, resembling that of a human.

The two remaining warriors readied themselves to make their last-ditch effort for victory. The kishin smiled wickedly at the show of defiance, he was enjoying the display of bravado in the face of terror. In a matter of moments, he took down Black-Star, leaving the young assassin severely bruised and beaten.

The blue haired hyper-active hero dropped to his knees before falling unconscious on to the floor. Liz and patty put up a decent struggle, firing a small barrage at asura and trying to dodge his strikes and energy blasts, but it was still in vain. They were defeated when he actually put effort into his attack. Marx was the last man standing, the one pillar between life and doom, the wall between order and chaos, the lone survivor.

"So here we are, you and me, one on one for now." Said Marx.

"It appears that way doesn't it, you know you can't win. Why continue fighting, it's pointless." Asura said in a malevolent tone.

(Play the Song: Human by Rag 'n' bone man)

"That's where you're wrong. My friends are down but not out, they won't quit as long as they can still draw breath, but I have a different problem. Lately I've been feeling like I live in a world of plywood and sheet-metal, having to take care not to break something or someone. What we have here is an opportunity for me to cut loose, and show you just how powerful I really am." Marx said proudly.

"Show me then, what you've been holding back, it won't save you."

"First I'll show you a little trick I've been saving up." Marx said as he began to power up. "This is rage." Marx charged his power again to the next level. "This Is Rage 2, but you can call it fury. And this is to go even further!" Marx let out a long loud scream as he began to let his power rise to its new heights.

The ground began to crack and rumble from the sheer amount of power Marx was discharging with each passing moment. The barrier around the arena began to crack and sway, the force of Marx's might, shining through the haze of madness.

His scream intensified as he slowed to breathe, his power continuing to rise as he surged on with another large burst of energy. He began to glow blue, his aura letting off small flurries of electrical discharges. His scream grew louder still not even slowing down for a moment, rocks and pebbles had even started floating into the air around him.

The debris had begun to orbit around the being of righteous power, his strength rising to a level that he'd only hoped for. Asura twitched his eye to the unflinching courage of his opponent, he couldn't comprehend where the strength or willpower had come from. He wondered why was his opponent not be afraid, why was he getting stronger, and why was he not stricken with madness.

The power finally hit the new limit, and Marx was now glowing with a blue aura, and blue sparks of electricity magnificently blanketed the area around him. His friends regained their consciousness for a brief moment baring witness to the godlike power of their friend.

"You can come at me, but you still don't stand a chance."

"This great planet no matter how vast, will never be large enough for us to coexist. One shall stand, one shall fall."

"Why throw away your life so recklessly hero?"

"That's a question you should ask yourself Asura."

(Play the song: Remember the Name by Fort Minor)

Marx charged at Asura letting loose a war-cry. Asura grabbed Marx's fist, he struggled to hold back the punch. Marx used his other arm to slug Asura in the gut. Asura vomited up black blood from the sheer force of Marx's punch. Marx threw Asura over his shoulder and hammer tossed Asura in the opposite direction. Asura recovered in mid-air, he flew towards Marx at his top speed. Marx braced himself for the impact, crossing his forearms one over the other. Asura made contact sending Marx skidding backwards, and leaving small trenches in ground.

"Is that the best you can do? Here's mine." Marx shouted as he stuck his arm out in front him and fired a blue beam of energy at Asura. Asura countered Marx's blast with his own beam, he opened his mouth and a bright red beam of energy surged out towards his opponent.

Marx held his ground against Asura. The two warriors battled, their beams of energy colliding and constantly pushing back and forth between the two of them. Marx put another ounce of might in to his blast pushing back asura's own beam. Asura was caught in the overwhelming force of Marx's blast, he flew backwards screaming in pain.

Marx charged after Asura to catch him as he recovered. Asura saw the attack coming and retaliated with his own punch. The two fists collided causing a shockwave that sent rocks flying away from them. Marx brought his leg up for a kick, asura caught it, and threw Marx away. Marx did a somersault and landed on his feet skidding backwards.

Marx and asura ran towards each other screaming at the top of their lungs. When they reached each other both of them grappled with their fists, neither of them backing down. Marx was becoming winded and losing strength. Asura saw his opponent's weakness and began to overpower Marx.

Marx held on but was slowly being forced to ground. Maka and soul regained consciousness and witnessed Marx battling Asura with all his true might. The two of them sat there for a moment in awe of the sheer might of Marx. He was a death scythe after all, that was his power at its fullest.

They also saw him losing and began their soul resonance kishin hunter. Maka used Marx's battle as a distraction and sliced Asura across his back. Asura was unfazed by the attack and sent out a concussive wave that threw Maka and soul backwards. Marx was distracted and Asura forced him to the ground.

The kishin relished in his victory, and began to torture the defeated hero. Asura brought his foot down on Marx's left shoulder bones crushing them and causing Marx to scream violently in pain. Asura picked up Marx with one hand and had started to speak.

"Was that your plan? To defeat me using the kishin hunter when I was distracted by your pathetic display of power. Madness isn't evil, it's human nature. I'll admit you kept me entertained for a short time, but all good things must come to an end."

Marx began to smile and chuckled, causing Asura to become puzzled. For it was not, laughter of madness it was something else entirely.

"That may be true, but human nature is more complex than you believe you idiot. Is it that hard for you get through your thick skull? Everyone is more than the sum of their fears, for it is also human nature to have courage in the face of fear and things we don't understand. Bravery isn't the absence of madness or fear, it's the will to act in spite of it, jackass." Marx said full of spite with a smile.

Maka let soul rest, ran up to Asura and slugged him in the back of the head. The punch caused asura to drop Marx and he hit the ground. Asura was lying flat on his face from Maka's punch. Marx got to his feet and transformed, Maka caught and the two spoke for a moment.

"Maka, are you ready?"

"Time to nut up or shut up."

"Atta girl, let's kick his ass."

"Let's go, Soul resonance!" the two fighters said in unison. Marx transformed again into a silver plated Browning M2 .50 caliber Chain-gun. And Maka pulled down on the trigger unleashing a storm of rounds at Asura. The soul rounds impacted Asura and tore through him like tissue paper.

'How is this possible?! I 've beaten them, broken them, crushed their hope. How, is it possible that they can still stand let alone keep fighting?!' Asura thought panicking. "Impossible!"

Asura was getting shredded to pieces by the rapid .50 caliber fire, his regeneration ability wasn't working anymore. With every round that sped through him faster than the speed of sound, a large chunk of blood and flesh flew off in a haze of black blood mist. His power was fading as images flashed through his mind of pure confusion at how he had failed. After the storm subsided, Marx transformed back to his human form and gestured to Maka.

"Would you care to do the honors my friend?" Marx asked Maka with a grin hidden by his balaclava.

Maka nodded and strolled over to the kneeling asura, who bled from all the new holes covering his torso. Maka picked him by the scruff of his neck, and slugged him in the face with her full force.

"Ha, your fist alone isn't enough to destroy me! Wait what's happening?!" Asura screamed as his face and form began to crack like fracturing glass. "How is this possible your fist isn't a weapon, nothing special?!"

"Exactly, bravery isn't anything special. That means everyone has it." Maka said coolly.

"Everybody, huh. Then It's just like madness." Asura said calmly as he exploded in flash of bright light.

When the Kishin exploded, the barrier around the arena faded, and the clouds all receded. the sun shined brightly down on the victors, a flurry of the now free innocent human souls rose into the sky to find their eternal peace.

(Play the Song: Sympathy for the devil by The Rolling Stones)

The group of friends celebrated their victory, black-Star and patty stepped on top some rubble and shouted their pride in victory. Soul sat back and admired his cool friends, especially Maka. Kid, Tsubaki and Liz discussed what was going to happen next. Kid had a grim outlook about the future but Maka assured him and the others that things will be alright, they be there face any new challenge. She followed that up with her faith in humanity. Marx raised his right fist in the air, and made a rock on sign.

-END CHAPTER-


	22. Epilolgue

Epilogue: prelude to a new journey

X

Welcome back to the story people, please review, fav, follow and enjoy. Enjoy the story Kiddos.

x

"speech"/ 'thought'

X

(Play the song: Endless Possibilities from Sonic Unleashed)

Before any real victory celebrations could commence, there was the hulking problem of getting death city back to its original location. When that was done, Marx was given an official ceremony for his promotion to death scythe, which served a dual purpose as the official V-Day party.

The party was just as big, if not slightly bigger than the anniversary party of death city's founding. Marx was presented with a medal from Lord Death himself, the Medal of Honor. The gang had all congratulated him for his promotion and thanked him for holding the line as long as he did.

Maka and Soul were happy their partner had risen up in the world, He reminded them that they did it together. Without them, he was just a weapon, a very powerful weapon at that. Marx was presented with a brand-new motorcycle from Dr. Stein and Marie, a Harley-Davidson Peace Officer edition, with high-performance upgrades across the board. Soul offered to race him on his own chopper when they got the time. Marx accepted, the two of them bumped fists at the idea of some friendly competition.

Maka was proud to have finally made her own official Death Scythe at last. She and the rest of the gang, Marx included, posed for a group photo. Kid was the one in charge of taking it, which aggravated the participants.

Marx smiled widely and then after kid finally got the picture perfect to his specifications, he set the camera on a timer and the picture was taken. Everyone hung a copy of the picture at their places, Marx enjoyed the picture every time he looked at it.

He and Soul got ready to race the next day, everyone they knew had come to watch. Some of the staff had even placed bets, Death Scythe (AKA: Spirit/Maka's Dad) being one of them.

"I'm putting 40 forty bucks on Soul to win." Spirit slammed 2 twenty dollar bills on a small table in front of him.

"I'm betting on Marx, he's not only one of my better students, he definitely seems to knowledge of vehicles to an extent. So, I see your 40 and raise you 60." Stein said nonchalantly.

"Normally, I wasn't the kind of man to gamble but, I bet on a tie." Sid dropped another 40 dollars on the table, adding to the pot.

Marx and Soul revved the engines of their bikes, and Liz waved the start flag. The two racers took off leaving high speed dust trails in their wake. Marx found a jump and soared through the air pulling off a few tricks in the process. Soul grinned and decided to pull of his own tricks by standing on top of his bike and surfing on it for a few seconds, before hitting a jump, and doing a hand stand on the handle bars.

The two of them were neck and neck on the track, one barely passing the other. Marx gunned the motor and overtook soul before the next turn. Soul saw his chance after Marx slowed down to take the turn, and passed him. Marx retaliated by taking a shortcut and intercepting his friend.

The two speed demons enjoyed the run and blasted ahead down a straight away at top speed. Marx and soul slid through the turns like pro-racers, enjoying the g-forces. The two of them were nearing the finish line and was going to be a photo finish. They crossed the line in a show of pure racing awesomeness by leaving a huge dust cloud at their stopping point. The crowd cheered and the two racers bro-fisted in sportsmanship. Lord Death himself announced that it was a tie.

Death scythe and Stein sighed as they had lost their bet to Sid. Sid counted his cash smugly.

Later on, Marx had the true displeasure of meeting Excalibur. He simply ignored the extremely annoying little white imp. He kept shouting the word fool at Marx randomly, or Marx simply ignored him. The sword indignantly tried to get the fellow weapon's attention. Marx simply sat there and read his magazine: Guns and Bullets Monthly. Excalibur, who felt increasingly annoyed at the lack of attention, grabbed Marx's magazine with his cane and tossed it aside. Marx was slightly irked by this action but remained stoic. Marx pulled out his next magazine: US Military Surplus Review, and kept on reading it. Excalibur was starting to use every trick in his book to get Marx's attention. Finally, he pulled out the big guns and using air horns, fireworks, name it and he was using it.

"Fool, you have earned my respect! no one has had the audacity to ignore me before, and remain stoic for this long." Excalibur proclaimed as Marx flicked over to the next page.

'No one can stand you this long! I wonder how long it'll take before you finally go away!' Marx screamed inside his head while trying to focus on the section for vintage WW2 collector US military firearms.

"Furthermore, you did a fair job of fighting the kishin, and for that I commend you." Excalibur announced loudly, hoping to finally gain Marx's attention through the use of flattery.

'Not going to fall for it.' Marx thought coolly, flipping to the ammo section of his magazine.

"I am serious, you have earned my praise." Excalibur said acknowledging the strength of will Marx possessed.

"If you truly are serious, then thank you. If not, please leave, I'm trying to enjoy some quality time reading my magazine." Marx conceded with a sigh.

"Fool! Your welcome, have I ever told you…." Excalibur began to tell one of his long winded and extremely boring tales.

'Oh, god no!' Marx thought in horror at the long story that Excalibur drawled on with.

Later after listening to Excalibur for an hour, Marx set off a smoke bomb, grabbed his magazines, and took off running. He had a massive frown of disgust on his face. Marx eventually ran into Azusa who had a very difficult opinion on her new colleague.

"So, you're the newest death scythe. Stand up straight, shoulders back. When I talk, you listen, got it?!" Azusa said in a calm drill sergeant like tone.

"Yes ma'am!" Marx hadn't been this scared since he first met Maka.

"Just because you have ascended to death scythe does not Mean your duties can be ignored."'

"Yes ma'am." Marx said meekly.

"Good, I never got the chance to tell you, good job." Azusa said relaxing her tone and slightly smiling at Marx.

"Thank you, ma'am." Marx said respectfully.

The two parted ways and Marx, he decided to head to the apartment and sleep. But he did have a lot to think about, there would always be more bad guys to fight. There was also the possibility a rift might open again and he may never come back. He thought on that, if it were to happen again, he needed everyone to know why he disappeared in a way that would not arouse suspicion. Only a very small group of people would know why he left, and might not be seen again.

He decided to leave Death City under the premise of seeing the world, and doing some soul searching. He knew Crona, Maka and Soul would have to deal with the prospect of him leaving, but it was going to happen again, and he didn't want them to worry. The next day he told Lord Death about his decision to leave, the Grim reaper assured Marx there'd always be a place for him at the DWMA should he ever return.

Marx was happy to have settled that, he went into town, purchased an olive drab Patrol cap, olive drab US Army Korean war era officer's trench-coat with sergeant chervrons stitched onto the side, olive drab fatigue pants and a white T-shirt for his journey. Next, he purchased some real guns, a Colt.45 M1911, Browning Hi-power 9mm, M1 Garand, Browning Auto-5 shotgun with extended 8 shell tube, a Thompson M1A1 SMG, A shiny black .45-70 Revolver with an octagon barrel, and a BAR with bipod.

He went on to tell everyone else he was going exploring around the world. His friends were supportive but some had mixed feelings. Marx promised them he'd return, he gave his partners one last group hug before, he hopped on his motorcycle, with his guns on his back and holstered at his sides, ammo in bandoliers, and the bare minimum of his possessions in his saddle bags. He trusted Maka and Soul to keep the rest safe. Marx set off on his journey after having said his goodbyes. He picked a direction in the desert, and set off, leaving a crowd of waving friends behind for new roads ahead.

He made it to the middle of nowhere and a portal opened just like before. Marx gunned the motor and drove straight into it. his mind briefly flashed the images of everything he was leaving behind. A tear came to his eye, he crossed the threshold and zoomed through the portal. Just like that he was gone, only a small whirlwind swirled in the dust where the portal had been.

-END CHAPTER-

A/N: so that's the end of Marx's first adventure. Who knows where he'll end up next, he could meet a girl who's red like roses, or maybe walk among monsters as a form of youkai were-wolf. Get the references hint, hint? Tune in next time for the next adventures in the chronicles of Marx.


End file.
